APG Asset Management US Inc. Makes New Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 369,122 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $48,074,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 706.3% in the 1st 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 last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $121.68 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.82 and a 12 month high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $123.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.01.

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

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to buy up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business 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 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 44.83%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,952 shares of company stock valued at $4,016,328. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays lifted 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.06.

NetApp Company 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.