Prudential PLC Boosts Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Prudential PLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 51,349 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,338 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $6,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of NetApp by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $497,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 254.8% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $149,720,000 after buying an additional 950,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in NetApp by 48.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,375,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $249,307,000 after buying an additional 773,773 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on NTAP. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.06.

NetApp Trading Up 0.4 %

NTAP stock opened at $114.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $126.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.28. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01. The firm has a market cap of $23.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 44.83%.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at $24,604,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,604,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’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 value of $1,108,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Company 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.