Optimist Retirement Group LLC Sells 2,128 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC cut its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 49.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,167 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,128 shares during the period. Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $279,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,920 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,437,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $265,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 20,618 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,648,000 after acquiring an additional 3,291 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,555 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 15.0% in the second quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 2,683 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Trading Up 0.3 %

NTAP stock opened at $119.35 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $135.01. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.83%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total value of $2,848,120.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,387,583.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146 over the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NTAP. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.06.

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.