3,955 Shares in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Bought by Scientech Research LLC

Scientech Research LLC bought a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,955 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $509,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Advisors LP raised 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 purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in NetApp by 17.5% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,791,599 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $359,517,000 after acquiring an additional 416,233 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in NetApp by 3.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,405,363 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $309,811,000 after acquiring an additional 82,378 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $241,905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,942 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,148,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $225,532,000 after purchasing an additional 450,263 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group boosted their target price on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays raised their price target on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.06.

NetApp Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $121.24 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $24.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.61 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $135.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.43.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total transaction of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,581,670.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $208,266.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,637 shares of company stock worth $1,376,474. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.