NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board trimmed its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,898 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 7,251 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value 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. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total transaction of $397,393.59. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,277 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. This trade represents a 26.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NTAP. Bank of America boosted their target price on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup increased their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $129.06.

NetApp Stock Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $3.30 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $126.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,104,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,824,191. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.46 and a 52-week high of $135.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $121.77 and a 200-day moving average of $122.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.63%.

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.