NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stake Reduced by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management lowered its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 34,889 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in NetApp were worth $3,076,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,299,008 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $174,449,000 after buying an additional 47,040 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 0.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 6,512 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,109,662 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $84,202,000 after purchasing an additional 266,812 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 899,155 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $68,228,000 after buying an additional 179,684 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $74,257,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505 over the last three months. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $0.88 on Thursday, hitting $100.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,551,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,867,572. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.28. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.92 and a fifty-two week high of $112.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $99.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.01.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Argus raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup upped their price target on NetApp from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.60.

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.