NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Holdings Raised by Strategic Advocates LLC

Strategic Advocates LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 96.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,214 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,960 shares during the period. NetApp comprises about 0.6% of Strategic Advocates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Strategic Advocates LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of NTAP. KBC Group NV increased its stake in NetApp by 276.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $103,431,000 after purchasing an additional 654,626 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $738,280,000 after buying an additional 453,324 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in NetApp by 38.5% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,232,852 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $152,270,000 after acquiring an additional 342,415 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA lifted its holdings in NetApp by 926.1% in the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 283,674 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $35,022,000 after acquiring an additional 256,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,721,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NTAP. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.20.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $122.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $121.31 and a 200-day moving average of $122.37. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. NetApp’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total transaction of $397,393.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. This trade represents a 26.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $38,285.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 51,610 shares of company stock valued at $6,123,351. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.