Twin Capital Management Inc. Sells 168 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Twin Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,209 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 168 shares during the quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 66.3% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,740 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 3,086 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its position in NetApp by 6.0% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 29,741 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in NetApp by 0.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 139,507 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $11,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares during the period. Aviva PLC lifted its position in NetApp by 41.0% during the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 98,770 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $8,198,000 after purchasing an additional 28,705 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential PLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter worth about $465,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on NTAP shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up previously from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Argus raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on NetApp from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp 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 transaction of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $97.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.15. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.92 and a fifty-two week high of $112.48.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.