Central Bank & Trust Co. Cuts Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Central Bank & Trust Co. cut its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 16.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,671 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 8,445 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,394,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 46.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 16,720 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,754,000 after acquiring an additional 5,273 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $473,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 60.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 527,064 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $55,355,000 after buying an additional 198,627 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 221.9% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 301,699 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,731,000 after buying an additional 207,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in NetApp by 63.9% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 343,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,025,000 after acquiring an additional 133,813 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Down 0.6 %

NTAP opened at $115.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.64 billion, a PE ratio of 22.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $74.82 and a one year high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $121.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $120.85.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 40.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.06.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $208,266.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 10,890 shares of company stock worth $1,369,172. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.