Empowered Funds LLC Has $16.53 Million Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 72.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 133,819 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 56,135 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.07% of NetApp worth $16,528,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 82,378 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,982,787 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $208,133,000 after acquiring an additional 211,204 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in NetApp by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,737,578 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $223,806,000 after purchasing an additional 196,952 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in NetApp by 59.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,643,146 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $211,637,000 after purchasing an additional 613,583 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 2.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $117.21. 1,973,045 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,807,237. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $121.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.41 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 40.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Loop Capital upgraded NetApp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $129.06.

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.