Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,774,849 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 225,247 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in NetApp were worth $190,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $14,869,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 4.9% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 432,772 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,266,000 after purchasing an additional 20,089 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 216.1% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 927,525 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $109,875,000 after purchasing an additional 634,085 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its position in NetApp by 26.0% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 159,274 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $18,868,000 after purchasing an additional 32,833 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in NetApp by 106.8% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,136,000 after purchasing an additional 135,715 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of NetApp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 19th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to a “mixed” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.27.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total value of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. This represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,800. This trade represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,275 shares of company stock valued at $347,650. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $142.74 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.28. The company has a market cap of $28.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.28. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.69 and a fifty-two week high of $143.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.07% and a return on equity of 118.11%. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Profile

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.