NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Holdings Lessened by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,758 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 766 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 433,616 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $55,009,000 after purchasing an additional 71,165 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 343.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 227,933 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,152,000 after buying an additional 176,495 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in NetApp in the third quarter worth $160,000. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 6.1% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,998 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $988,000 after buying an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 73.1% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,608 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 3,213 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NTAP. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $139.20.

NetApp Stock Down 3.4 %

NTAP stock opened at $118.34 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.06 billion, a PE ratio of 21.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $83.62 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.08.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 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 the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $38,285.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,549 shares of company stock worth $3,864,316 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.