NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Acquired by Quadrature Capital Ltd

Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 50.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,938 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,303 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $232,502,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $497,556,000 after buying an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 254.8% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,905,000 after buying an additional 1,654,942 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 127.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $149,720,000 after buying an additional 950,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $74,257,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Trading Up 0.5 %

NTAP stock traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $126.15. 1,194,967 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,635,626. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $125.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a PE ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.83%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total value of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at $1,581,670.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of NetApp 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,968,758.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus increased their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Susquehanna increased their price target on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

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.