Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 45,402 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,303 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in NetApp were worth $5,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its position in NetApp by 23.4% in the first quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 34,499 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,621,000 after purchasing an additional 6,538 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 3.3% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,920 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $831,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 21.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 21,551 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,262,000 after buying an additional 3,789 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 18.4% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 742,659 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $77,957,000 after acquiring an additional 115,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 7.8% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 29,649 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,112,000 after acquiring an additional 2,155 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP traded up $1.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $124.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 615,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,811,900. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $120.98. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.32 and a 1-year high of $135.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.99, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The business's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. Analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 40.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total value of $208,266.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 705 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital raised NetApp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $129.06.

NetApp 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.