Strategic Advocates LLC Has $1.88 Million Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Strategic Advocates LLC increased its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 96.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,214 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,960 shares during the quarter. NetApp comprises about 0.6% of Strategic Advocates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Strategic Advocates LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 2,833.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management raised its position in shares of NetApp by 165.0% during the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 530 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $38,285.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at $34,774,104.78. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,610 shares of company stock valued at $6,123,351 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $122.44 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $83.80 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $121.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.20.

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.