NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Texas Permanent School Fund Corp

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lessened its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 20.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,061 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 8,495 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,387,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in NetApp by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $497,556,000 after buying an additional 2,059,574 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,791,599 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $359,517,000 after acquiring an additional 416,233 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $232,502,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 254.8% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in NetApp by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,148,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $225,532,000 after purchasing an additional 450,263 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $117.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $124.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.69. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01. The firm has a market cap of $24.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Argus upped their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective 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. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.