Palouse Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,107 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 27,643 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,107 shares during the period. NetApp makes up 2.4% of Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $3,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 706.3% in the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in NetApp in the first quarter worth $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on NTAP shares. Barclays raised their price objective 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. 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 research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 this hyperlink. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $119.35 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $124.13 and its 200-day moving average is $116.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.82 and a 52 week high of $135.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.56 billion, a PE ratio of 25.72, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 44.83%.

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

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.