NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stake Reduced by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,086 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 570 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in NetApp were worth $752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of NetApp by 11.4% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 19,411 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,990 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in NetApp by 46.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 16,720 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 5,273 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth about $208,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in NetApp by 221.9% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 301,699 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,731,000 after buying an additional 207,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pitcairn Co. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 18.3% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 9,486 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $996,000 after buying an additional 1,466 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 2.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172 over the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on NTAP. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.06.

NetApp Stock Up 1.8 %

NetApp stock opened at $119.34 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.08 and a 1-year high of $135.01. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $121.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.62%.

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.