NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Purchased by NBC Securities Inc.

NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 6.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,301 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the quarter. NBC Securities Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $556,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its stake in NetApp by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 3,639 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 58.7% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in NetApp by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 41,209 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,633,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 16,283 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $127.47 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.82 and a 12-month high of $130.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $112.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.81.

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.