Knowledge Leaders Capital LLC Sells 408 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Knowledge Leaders Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,680 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 408 shares during the quarter. NetApp makes up 1.8% of Knowledge Leaders Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Knowledge Leaders Capital LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 41,209 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,633,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 40.4% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 490 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 82.9% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock traded up $0.39 on Friday, reaching $101.33. 2,124,805 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,401,973. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $100.21 and its 200-day moving average is $89.27. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $61.54 and a one year high of $112.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $20.91 billion, a PE ratio of 23.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.28.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.25. NetApp had a net margin of 15.21% and a return on equity of 109.49%. 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 firm posted $1.02 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.45%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.67, for a total value of $1,540,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 144,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,877,807.03. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NTAP. StockNews.com lowered shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.60.

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.