Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $1.94 Million Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 92.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,689 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 205,360 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 8.9% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 302,010 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $37,301,000 after acquiring an additional 24,651 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 20.9% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 42,302 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,225,000 after buying an additional 7,318 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in NetApp by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 186,777 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $24,057,000 after buying an additional 8,305 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,059,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in NetApp by 202.1% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 266,262 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,886,000 after acquiring an additional 178,135 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Trading Down 2.9 %

NASDAQ NTAP traded down $3.61 on Tuesday, hitting $122.49. 1,608,833 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,851,723. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.62 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The company's 50 day moving average price is $122.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is 38.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $38,285.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 11,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Northland Securities boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Loop Capital raised NetApp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $139.20.

About NetApp

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.