Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Cuts Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,741 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 4,836 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,732,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in NetApp by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,930 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 60,548 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,338,000 after purchasing an additional 12,634 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $300,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 68.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 454 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,581,670.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at $1,581,670.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 193,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,604,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,452 shares of company stock worth $4,970,628 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock opened at $122.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $123.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Argus raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.