Primecap Management Co. CA Sells 359,368 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Primecap Management Co. CA lessened its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,427,406 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 359,368 shares during the quarter. NetApp comprises about 1.2% of Primecap Management Co. CA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Primecap Management Co. CA owned 6.56% of NetApp worth $1,658,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 46.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 16,720 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 5,273 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in NetApp by 4.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 186,777 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $24,057,000 after purchasing an additional 8,305 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,405,363 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $309,811,000 after purchasing an additional 82,378 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 132.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,230 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,963,000 after purchasing an additional 16,066 shares during the period. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 6,290.7% in the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 9,650 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,013,000 after buying an additional 9,499 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP opened at $123.45 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $25.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $121.56 and a 200 day moving average of $122.36. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.30 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The business's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total transaction of $397,393.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,277 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. The trade was a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $208,266.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays raised their target price on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Oppenheimer started coverage on NetApp in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.

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