Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Invests $7.22 Million in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 68,649 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,223,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 4,684 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 4.8% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its stake in NetApp by 3.3% during 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. raised its stake in NetApp by 58.7% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at $24,604,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,334 shares of company stock worth $5,103,798. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $2.53 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $134.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,919,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,995,060. The firm has a market cap of $27.70 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.82 and a twelve month high of $135.01.

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

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.83%.

NetApp declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.