Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Sells 3,358 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 39.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,127 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 3,358 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $452,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 41,209 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,633,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in NetApp by 40.4% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 490 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 82.9% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,279 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.75, for a total transaction of $770,625.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,660,024.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505 in the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.94.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $100.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.83 billion, a PE ratio of 22.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.15. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.92 and a fifty-two week high of $112.48.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 15.21% and a return on equity of 109.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.45%.

About NetApp

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.