Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Trims Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado decreased its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 4.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,006 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 784 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 4.3% in the second quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in NetApp by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,920 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,437,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in NetApp by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 17,754 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,287,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,051 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus boosted their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.06.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $122.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $123.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.87. The stock has a market cap of $25.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $70.82 and a one year high of $135.01.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

NetApp declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on 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 owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,952 shares of company stock worth $4,016,328. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.