NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Position Increased by Convergence Investment Partners LLC

Convergence Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 27.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 41,790 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,986 shares during the quarter. NetApp accounts for about 1.6% of Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,383,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in NetApp by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,643,780 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $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 fourth quarter worth $232,502,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 48.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,375,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $249,307,000 after buying an additional 773,773 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 254.8% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,304,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,905,000 after buying an additional 1,654,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in NetApp by 26.5% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $127.67.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $1.52 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $120.72. 3,020,400 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,917,477. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $127.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.94. The company has a market cap of $24.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.82 and a 12-month high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 buy up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at $40,968,758.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at $1,458,565.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.