UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Buys 383,701 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 9.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,444,057 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 383,701 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned 2.26% of NetApp worth $687,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC raised its position in NetApp by 68.7% during the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $187.02 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $175.90 and its 200 day moving average is $138.03. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $209.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $36.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore set a $210.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 24th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $179.77.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total value of $193,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,872,164.54. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total transaction of $38,495.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $186,488.10. This represents a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 55,297 shares of company stock valued at $8,758,016 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.