NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Bought by Eastern Bank

Eastern Bank grew its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 58.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,397 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in NetApp were worth $162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 8.9% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 302,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $37,301,000 after purchasing an additional 24,651 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 42,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,225,000 after buying an additional 7,318 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 186,777 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $24,057,000 after buying an additional 8,305 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,059,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in NetApp by 202.1% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 266,262 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,886,000 after acquiring an additional 178,135 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 51,610 shares of company stock valued at $6,149,531. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $116.69 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $121.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.97. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.45, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.20.

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.