Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Has $1.61 Million Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,216 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in NetApp by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 240,382 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $21,192,000 after buying an additional 29,404 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in NetApp by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,270,712 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $112,026,000 after buying an additional 6,512 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $74,257,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in NetApp by 25.8% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 164,660 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $14,516,000 after buying an additional 33,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in NetApp by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 30,321 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,673,000 after buying an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Wedbush lifted their price target on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $862,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 261,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,496,330.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total value of $862,240.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 261,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,496,330.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 40,371 shares of company stock worth $4,139,505 in the last ninety days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP stock traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $99.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 489,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,861,157. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $99.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.92 and a 1 year high of $112.48. The stock has a market cap of $20.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.60, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.28.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 109.49% and a net margin of 15.21%. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.02 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.45%.

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.