NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) CFO Sells $954,300.00 in Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at $24,604,271.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $128.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $26.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76, a P/E/G ratio of 5.22 and a beta of 1.25. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.82 and a 52-week high of $130.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $115.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.38.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This is a boost from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 43.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.81.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 4,684 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC raised its position in NetApp by 4.8% during the first quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 3,639 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 58.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.