NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stake Reduced by Central Bank & Trust Co.

Central Bank & Trust Co. decreased its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 22.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,342 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 9,409 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC raised its position in NetApp by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Utah Retirement Systems raised its position in NetApp by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 34,152 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,597 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total value of $695,555.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 249,765 shares in the company, valued at $20,438,269.95. This trade represents a 3.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 302 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.77, for a total transaction of $29,828.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,940.35. This represents a 39.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,026 shares of company stock worth $2,549,860 in the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $106.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $91.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.44. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $71.84 and a one year high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 36.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Susquehanna cut NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.79.

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.