Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Decreases Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. decreased its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 99,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 3,774 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $15,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,925,168,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in NetApp by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,192,354 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,091,499,000 after purchasing an additional 115,451 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter worth $1,395,423,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in NetApp by 17.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $582,296,000 after buying an additional 718,409 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $458,060,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $173.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $210.00 price objective on NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $179.77.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $187.02 on Monday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $209.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.70 billion, a PE ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The business’s 50-day moving average is $175.90 and its 200 day moving average is $138.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction of $193,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,872,164.54. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 55,072 shares of company stock worth $8,719,520 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Profile

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.