Edgestream Partners L.P. Sells 3,898 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Edgestream Partners L.P. lowered its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 32.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,291 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 3,898 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,681 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,911,000 after buying an additional 1,589 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,279 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $554,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,015 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,500,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total value of $1,108,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 193,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Susquehanna increased their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on NetApp from $106.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.81.

NetApp Trading Down 1.5 %

NTAP traded down $1.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $127.28. The stock had a trading volume of 361,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,956,494. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.82 and a 52 week high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.19.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

NetApp declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. 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.