Inspire Investing LLC Decreases Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Inspire Investing LLC cut its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 41.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 14,249 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $497,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 254.8% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 1,654,942 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,720,000 after purchasing an additional 950,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 48.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,375,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $249,307,000 after purchasing an additional 773,773 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NTAP opened at $119.35 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $135.01. The company has a market cap of $24.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $116.40.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

NetApp declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 193,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,604,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.