NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 4.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,942 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 97 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Advocates LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 19.6% in the second quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 6,276 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $808,000 after buying an additional 1,029 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 41.9% in the 2nd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 7,520 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 53.5% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,753 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,401 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,051 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in NetApp by 377.5% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 659 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP stock traded up $3.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $122.49. 1,300,121 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,940,119. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $126.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.33. The firm has a market cap of $25.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.32. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. On average, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to buy up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders 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 1.70%. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,604,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at $24,604,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Argus lifted their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

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.