Axecap Investments LLC Makes New Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Axecap Investments LLC bought a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,497 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,049,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter worth $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in NetApp by 706.3% in the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the third quarter worth $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in NetApp in the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter worth $32,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $119.01 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $135.01. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,922,233.58. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,890 shares of company stock worth $1,369,172 in the last three months. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.