Tredje AP fonden Sells 506 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Tredje AP fonden decreased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,551 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 506 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $270,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $232,502,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in NetApp by 89.7% during the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 14,470 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 6,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,930 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $119.35 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $135.01. 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 stock has a market cap of $24.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $124.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.40.

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

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. 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. Citigroup boosted their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.06.

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.