Inceptionr LLC Buys New Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,286 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,299,008 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $174,449,000 after acquiring an additional 47,040 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $159,398,000 after acquiring an additional 24,416 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,519,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $133,978,000 after purchasing an additional 39,462 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in NetApp by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,270,712 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $112,026,000 after acquiring an additional 6,512 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 31.7% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,109,662 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $84,202,000 after buying an additional 266,812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on NTAP. Citigroup upped their price objective on NetApp from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Argus raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.75, for a total transaction of $770,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,660,024.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.75, for a total value of $770,625.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 152,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,660,024.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Down 0.2 %

NetApp stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $110.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 877,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,865,486. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.95 and a 1 year high of $112.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $103.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.78 billion, a PE ratio of 25.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.45%.

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.