GAMMA Investing LLC Makes New Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 667 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $58,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in NetApp by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,216 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in NetApp by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 240,382 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $21,192,000 after purchasing an additional 29,404 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in NetApp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,270,712 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $112,026,000 after buying an additional 6,512 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $74,257,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 164,660 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $14,516,000 after purchasing an additional 33,811 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $100.99 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.54 and a fifty-two week high of $112.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $101.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.91. The firm has a market cap of $20.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.25. NetApp had a return on equity of 109.49% and a net margin of 15.21%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 45.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.67, for a total transaction of $1,540,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 144,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,877,807.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.67, for a total value of $1,540,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 144,909 shares in the company, valued at $14,877,807.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, March 1st. Wedbush increased their price objective on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. StockNews.com cut NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.60.

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.