Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd Takes Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 18,093 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,235,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,791,599 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $359,517,000 after buying an additional 416,233 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in NetApp by 3.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,405,363 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $309,811,000 after purchasing an additional 82,378 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in NetApp by 12.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,737,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $223,806,000 after purchasing an additional 196,952 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 59.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,643,146 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $211,637,000 after purchasing an additional 613,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in NetApp by 3.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,361,262 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $142,879,000 after purchasing an additional 41,011 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NetApp from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $134.00.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $122.34 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.05 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.56 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

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.