NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. cut its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 20.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,380 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 16,395 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $8,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 218,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 3,521.9% in the 2nd quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 2,644 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,571 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth $488,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 517.5% during the 2nd quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 31,530 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,061,000 after acquiring an additional 26,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 29.1% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 34,984 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,506,000 after purchasing an additional 7,890 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on NTAP shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.06.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, 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 transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 64,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction 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 sale, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total transaction of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,952 shares of company stock valued at $4,016,328. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $122.92 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $123.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $135.01.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.83%.

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 repurchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.