LGT Group Foundation Sells 8,304 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

LGT Group Foundation trimmed its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 292,220 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 8,304 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in NetApp were worth $25,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in NetApp by 82.9% in the 4th 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. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its position in NetApp by 40.4% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 490 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.67, for a total transaction of $1,540,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 144,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,877,807.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,371 shares of company stock worth $4,139,505. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $101.13. 259,107 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,828,811. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $101.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.91. The firm has a market cap of $20.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $61.54 and a one year high of $112.48.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on NTAP. UBS Group lifted their target price on NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.60.

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.