NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 20.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,583 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 4,430 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its position in NetApp by 706.3% in the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.06.

NetApp Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $121.68 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.22, a P/E/G ratio of 4.61 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $123.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.01. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.82 and a 52-week high of $135.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

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

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,952 shares of company stock worth $4,016,328 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.