iA Global Asset Management Inc. Raises Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,515 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 6,453 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in NetApp in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 2,833.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robbins Farley acquired a new position in NetApp in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 11,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $38,285.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP traded down $3.51 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $127.60. 1,656,781 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,855,267. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $83.62 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.23. The business's 50 day moving average is $122.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.88. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on NetApp from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $137.40.

About NetApp

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.