MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 1,658 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 57,658 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,658 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $7,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 36.9% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 41,206 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,089,000 after acquiring an additional 11,106 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at $402,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in NetApp by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 537,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $66,424,000 after purchasing an additional 90,840 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth $205,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in NetApp by 66.5% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,989 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $122.64 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $24.93 billion, a PE ratio of 22.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $83.62 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $122.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.05.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on NTAP. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Loop Capital raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.40.

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.