DGS Capital Management LLC Grows Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 51.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,833 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,296 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $402,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $497,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $232,502,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 254.8% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,905,000 after buying an additional 1,654,942 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 1.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 24,416 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,771,583 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $156,183,000 after purchasing an additional 507,317 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 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 $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,205 shares of company stock valued at $2,345,409 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $129.03 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.82 and a fifty-two week high of $130.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a PEG ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.19.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a net margin of 15.73% and a return on equity of 114.54%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

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.