NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Central Bank & Trust Co.

Central Bank & Trust Co. decreased its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 43,671 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 8,445 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,250,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 138.5% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,187 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,952,000 after purchasing an additional 27,980 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its position in NetApp by 10.4% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 436,165 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $53,871,000 after buying an additional 41,250 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 38.5% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,232,852 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $152,270,000 after buying an additional 342,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 10.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 45,402 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,403,000 after buying an additional 4,303 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NetApp stock traded up $0.95 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $116.40. 1,412,337 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,815,930. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $74.82 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01. The firm's fifty day moving average is $121.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $23.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. NetApp's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America upped their price target on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $129.06.

NetApp Company 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.