Heartland Bank & Trust Co Cuts Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co lowered its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,220 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,188 shares during the quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 706.3% during the 1st quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $119.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.49 billion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $135.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on NTAP shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report 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 report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at $36,922,233.58. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

About NetApp

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.