American International Group Inc. Sells 7,379 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

American International Group Inc. cut its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,761 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 7,379 shares during the period. American International Group Inc. owned about 0.07% of NetApp worth $14,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,798 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $423,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,681 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,589 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,279 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,015 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,500,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,565.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at $24,604,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock traded up $1.70 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $127.40. 655,266 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,955,807. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.22 billion, a PE ratio of 27.09, a PEG ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $124.39 and a 200 day moving average of $106.57.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

NetApp announced that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 purchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 5th. This is a boost from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.81.

NetApp Company 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.