NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 602,967 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 442,579 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.30% of NetApp worth $74,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the third quarter worth $27,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 2,833.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,922,233.58. The trade was a 2.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Over 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $137.40.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP traded down $1.56 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $121.95. 885,919 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,851,572. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $122.90 and a 200-day moving average of $123.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $83.62 and a one year high of $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.24%.

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.