KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC Increases Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,368 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,537 shares during the quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aviso Wealth Management increased its position in shares of NetApp by 1.4% in the second quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of NetApp by 11.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in shares of NetApp by 0.5% in the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,920 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,437,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in shares of NetApp by 3.5% in the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 3,492 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 4.5% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $119.98 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $120.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.94. The firm has a market cap of $24.39 billion, a PE ratio of 22.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This represents a 2.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total value of $397,393.59. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. The trade was a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 51,610 shares of company stock valued at $6,149,531. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.