abrdn plc Decreases Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

abrdn plc cut its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 106,482 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 787 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned about 0.05% of NetApp worth $13,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter valued at $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NTAP opened at $116.10 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $121.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.47. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.63 and a twelve month high of $135.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.68, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% 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.