Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 296,839 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,158 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned 0.14% of NetApp worth $38,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NTAP. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its position in NetApp by 706.3% in the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the period. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 59.3% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 403 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NTAP opened at $120.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $135.01. The stock has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.43.

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

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 44.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at $24,604,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,604,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,452 shares of company stock worth $4,970,628. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NTAP. Evercore ISI increased their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus 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.