National Pension Service Raises Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 436,165 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 41,250 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.21% of NetApp worth $53,871,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in NetApp by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,232,852 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $152,270,000 after buying an additional 342,415 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 45,402 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $5,403,000 after purchasing an additional 4,303 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 17.5% during the third quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 5,817 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 111.0% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,673 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,565,000 after purchasing an additional 6,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conning Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 234.9% in the 3rd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 6,081 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $751,000 after acquiring an additional 4,265 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Up 3.8 %

NetApp stock traded up $4.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $120.80. 958,757 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,811,746. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $24.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.47, a PEG ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $121.09 and a 200 day moving average of $120.98. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $74.82 and a 12-month high of $135.01.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of NetApp 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on NTAP. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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.