NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Bought by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 36.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,756 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,283 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in NetApp were worth $613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 58.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter worth $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its stake 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 valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at $24,604,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital upgraded NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.06.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $118.95 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.82 and a 12 month high of $135.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $127.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $114.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $24.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.83%.

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.