Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 38.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 54,850 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,200 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 57.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $241,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $149,720,000 after purchasing an additional 950,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $74,257,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Up 1.1 %

NTAP opened at $130.24 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.07, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.27. 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 one year low of $70.82 and a one year high of $131.02.

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

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.10%.

NetApp announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upped their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Bank of America boosted their target price on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.81.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other 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 value 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 approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’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 value of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,205 shares of company stock valued at $2,345,409. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

About NetApp

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.