Promethos Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 833 NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Promethos Capital LLC acquired a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 833 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $107,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 16,900 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,177,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in NetApp by 16.6% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 277,359 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $35,724,000 after purchasing an additional 39,457 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its position in NetApp by 0.5% in the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,920 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,437,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth about $265,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 19.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 20,618 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,648,000 after buying an additional 3,291 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock opened at $120.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.88, a PEG ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $123.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.43. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total value of $60,147.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,581,670.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,604,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total transaction of $60,147.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,452 shares of company stock valued at $4,970,628. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp 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.