Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Sells 5,793 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV trimmed its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 23.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,676 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 5,793 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in NetApp by 11.8% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 784 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,051 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $651,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its holdings in NetApp by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 3,639 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in NetApp by 58.7% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $120.72 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $70.82 and a one year high of $135.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.02, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $113.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 44.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the topic of several research reports. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays raised their price target on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $127.67.

About NetApp

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.