AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Has $74.24 Million Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 27.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 639,518 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 137,430 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned approximately 0.31% of NetApp worth $74,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banque Pictet & Cie SA bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,329,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in NetApp by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 123,651 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $14,462,000 after purchasing an additional 8,322 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 3,524 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 20,725 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,406,000 after purchasing an additional 4,608 shares during the period. Finally, Core Alternative Capital lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 45,941 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,333,000 after buying an additional 4,721 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock traded up $4.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $124.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,198,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,380,075. The company has a market capitalization of $25.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $83.80 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $120.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.82.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. NetApp's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays increased their target price on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Susquehanna downgraded shares of NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $138.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total transaction of $1,056,465.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,774,104.78. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. This represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,403 shares of company stock worth $6,248,501 over the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.