Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Buys New Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 50,559 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,512,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its position in NetApp by 706.3% in the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NTAP. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Loop Capital raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.06.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $117.86 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $124.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.29. The company has a market capitalization of $24.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23. 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.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.83%.

NetApp declared that its board has approved a stock 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 buy up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,604,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146 over the last ninety days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by 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.