261 Shares in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Purchased by Rise Advisors LLC

Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 261 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in NetApp by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $497,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $232,502,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 254.8% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in NetApp by 2.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,299,008 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $174,449,000 after purchasing an additional 47,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in NetApp by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,808,051 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $159,398,000 after purchasing an additional 24,416 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $127.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $130.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.69. The company has a market cap of $26.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a PEG ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.25.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 43.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on NTAP. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com cut NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.81.

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.