LMR Partners LLP Sells 115,238 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

LMR Partners LLP lowered its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 92.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,897 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 115,238 shares during the period. LMR Partners LLP's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 59.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,643,146 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $211,637,000 after purchasing an additional 613,583 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. bought a new stake in NetApp during the second quarter worth approximately $56,313,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in NetApp by 17.5% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,791,599 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $359,517,000 after buying an additional 416,233 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $48,074,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 38.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 342,415 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on NTAP. Citigroup upped their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $129.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. This represents a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of 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 represents a 2.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $1.25 on Wednesday, reaching $123.45. The company had a trading volume of 2,351,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,812,518. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $121.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.35. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.30 and a twelve month high of $135.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is 40.63%.

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.