NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stake Lessened by V Square Quantitative Management LLC

V Square Quantitative Management LLC cut its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,998 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 110 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 123,651 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $14,462,000 after acquiring an additional 8,322 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 3,524 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 20,725 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,406,000 after acquiring an additional 4,608 shares in the last quarter. Core Alternative Capital boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 45,941 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,333,000 after acquiring an additional 4,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 6,987 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Up 1.1 %

NetApp stock opened at $119.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $120.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $83.80 and a 1-year high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 38.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.53.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,774,104.78. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.75, for a total transaction of $54,579.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,553 shares in the company, valued at $1,395,024.75. This represents a 3.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 64,562 shares of company stock worth $7,687,180. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.