Pathstone Holdings LLC Decreases Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Pathstone Holdings LLC decreased its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,049 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 292 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 24.5% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 9,461 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,864 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 0.6% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 92,817 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $11,463,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth $319,000. Seizert Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 2.0% in the third quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 456,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,375,000 after purchasing an additional 8,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 66.0% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 72,137 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $8,910,000 after purchasing an additional 28,693 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $129.60 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.56 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.96.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. NetApp’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total value of $397,393.59. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. This represents a 26.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the firm’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital upgraded NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $134.00.

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.