Principal Securities Inc. Buys 8,869 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 111.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,799 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,869 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 276.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $103,431,000 after buying an additional 654,626 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $738,280,000 after buying an additional 453,324 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake 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 valued at $152,270,000 after buying an additional 342,415 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 926.1% in the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 283,674 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $35,022,000 after buying an additional 256,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 546.8% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 289,504 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $33,606,000 after buying an additional 244,746 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NetApp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $160.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on NetApp from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $137.33.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP 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. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.28 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The stock has a market capitalization 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. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $120.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. Analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total transaction of $1,509,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. The trade was a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 60,903 shares of company stock worth $7,260,341. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.