QRG Capital Management Inc. Has $5.95 Million Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 138.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,980 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of NetApp by 706.3% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $116.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73, a PEG ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $121.09 and a 200-day moving average of $120.98. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $74.82 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.62%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $208,266.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,890 shares of company stock worth $1,369,172. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, 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 note on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.