Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Makes New $9.43 Million Investment in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 60,926 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,429,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total value of $193,820.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,872,164.54. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 55,072 shares of company stock valued at $8,719,520. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore set a $210.00 target price on NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Wall Street Zen cut NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $184.08.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP stock opened at $185.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $176.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.83. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $209.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.45.

NetApp Profile

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.