Advisors Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,443 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 11,457 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of NetApp by 39.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 393,975 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $41,357,000 after buying an additional 111,439 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 5.2% in the first quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 2,892 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth about $627,000. Caxton Associates LP increased its position in NetApp by 64.3% during the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 27,646 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 10,820 shares during the period. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $168,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total value of $397,393.59. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,277 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,096.71. This trade represents a 26.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.
Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on NetApp from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $134.00.
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NTAP opened at $122.34 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $121.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.56 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96.
NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.68% and a net margin of 17.78%. NetApp's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.
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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is presently 38.24%.
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.
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