Unigestion Holding SA Raises Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Unigestion Holding SA lifted its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 926.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 283,674 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 256,028 shares during the period. NetApp accounts for about 1.7% of Unigestion Holding SA's portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Unigestion Holding SA owned approximately 0.14% of NetApp worth $35,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter worth $32,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 2,833.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NTAP traded up $1.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $122.66. 2,043,779 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,858,307. The stock's 50-day moving average is $122.92 and its 200-day moving average is $123.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $83.62 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $24.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. NetApp's revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. The trade was a 2.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were 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 directly owns 11,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Oppenheimer started coverage on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $137.40.

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.