Kestra Investment Management LLC Increases Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Kestra Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 96.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,628 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 3,255 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $769,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 2,833.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth about $44,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NetApp stock traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $124.47. 2,975,285 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,430,411. The company has a 50 day moving average of $120.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.86. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.28 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $25.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,774,104.78. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 452 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.75, for a total transaction of $54,579.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,553 shares in the company, valued at $1,395,024.75. This trade represents a 3.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 60,903 shares of company stock worth $7,260,341. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Susquehanna lowered shares of NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $137.33.

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.