NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Purchased by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 139.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,004 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,752 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $119.01 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $135.01. The stock has a market cap of $24.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $123.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.85.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Barclays increased their price target on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.