NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Bought by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 20.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,302 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 7,318 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 8.9% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 302,010 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $37,301,000 after purchasing an additional 24,651 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 186,777 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $24,057,000 after buying an additional 8,305 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of NetApp by 3.5% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in NetApp by 132.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,230 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,963,000 after acquiring an additional 16,066 shares during the period. Finally, Hilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth about $4,059,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Up 2.7 %

NTAP stock opened at $129.60 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $122.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.96. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.56 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $26.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS 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 analysts' expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NTAP. Bank of America increased their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $134.00.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total transaction of $397,393.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,277 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. This trade represents a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.