NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 92.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,689 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 205,360 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,938,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 57.9% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,252 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in NetApp by 3.8% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 349,663 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $45,037,000 after purchasing an additional 12,856 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in NetApp by 125.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 84,077 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $10,829,000 after purchasing an additional 46,760 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $262,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in NetApp by 28.8% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 10,386 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after buying an additional 2,324 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of several research reports. Loop Capital upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $138.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $208,266.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. This represents a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock opened at $126.10 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $122.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $25.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $83.62 and a 52 week high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

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.