NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Great Diamond Partners LLC

Great Diamond Partners LLC cut its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 85.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,966 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 12,013 shares during the quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Narus Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,965 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Strategic Advocates LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 96.4% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 16,214 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after buying an additional 7,960 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its position in shares of NetApp by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 143,129 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $16,632,000 after acquiring an additional 80,922 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 4,389 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 40,496 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,283 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 9,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. This represents a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $38,285.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,610 shares of company stock valued at $6,123,351 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $122.10 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $24.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G 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 50 day moving average price of $121.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.37.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NTAP. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.20.

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.