CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 6,292 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp trimmed its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 12.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,287 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 6,292 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 10.2% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,948 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 1.8% in the first quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 18,132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,903,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lifted its stake in NetApp by 0.9% in the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 66,043 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,933,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter worth $27,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 36.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 913 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $127.64 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $130.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $112.63 and its 200 day moving average is $100.02. The company has a market cap of $26.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.51, a PEG ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.25. 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 results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 43.10%.

NetApp declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus raised their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,068,738.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

About NetApp

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.