Artemis Investment Management LLP Invests $2.65 Million in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 25,247 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,649,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $497,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $232,502,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 254.8% during the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,942 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in NetApp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,808,051 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $159,398,000 after purchasing an additional 24,416 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in NetApp by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,771,583 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $156,183,000 after purchasing an additional 507,317 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The sale 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 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. Insiders have sold 20,205 shares of company stock valued at $2,345,409 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $128.80. 2,711,433 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,006,925. The company has a market capitalization of $26.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.82 and a 52-week high of $130.87. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.82.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This is a boost from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 43.10%.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.