Railway Pension Investments Ltd Has $37 Million Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Railway Pension Investments Ltd raised its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 352,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,300 shares during the quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings in NetApp were worth $36,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,681 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,911,000 after buying an additional 1,589 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 70,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,191,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in NetApp by 82.9% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total value of $2,848,120.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 64,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,387,583.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total value of $2,848,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $3.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $119.05. 2,385,889 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,609,858. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company has a market cap of $24.50 billion, a PE ratio of 25.66, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.25. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $70.82 and a one year high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

NetApp Profile

NetApp, Inc provides cloud-led and data-centric services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It operates in two segments, Hybrid Cloud and Public Could. The company offers intelligent data management software, such as NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, NetApp SnapMirror Data Replication, NetApp SnapLock Data Compliance, and storage infrastructure solutions, including NetApp All-Flash FAS series, NetApp Fabric Attached Storage, NetApp E/EF series, and NetApp StorageGRID.