Csenge Advisory Group Sells 88 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Csenge Advisory Group reduced its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,595 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 88 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group’s holdings in NetApp were worth $334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in NetApp by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $497,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $232,502,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 48.3% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,375,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $249,307,000 after purchasing an additional 773,773 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 254.8% during the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,905,000 after buying an additional 1,654,942 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in NetApp by 26.5% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,148,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $225,532,000 after buying an additional 450,263 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,968,758.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at $40,968,758.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total transaction of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

NetApp Stock Up 1.1 %

NTAP stock traded up $1.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $120.53. 262,685 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,933,339. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.69, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $135.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $125.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.10.

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

NetApp declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s payout ratio is 44.83%.

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.