NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Shares Sold by J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG reduced its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 84.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,045 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 16,576 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in NetApp were worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 4,687.6% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,068,694 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $93,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,372 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in NetApp by 1,230.3% in the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,007,591 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $107,359,000 after purchasing an additional 931,850 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,041,930 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,375,363,000 after purchasing an additional 597,956 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,546,548 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $311,529,000 after purchasing an additional 560,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 97.7% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,096,236 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $96,293,000 after purchasing an additional 541,837 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $118.72 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $114.37 and a 200 day moving average of $102.74. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Barclays raised their target price on NetApp from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their target price on NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.07.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,750 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.91, for a total value of $1,075,462.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 274,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,792,629.58. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 779 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.87, for a total value of $94,936.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,529 shares of company stock worth $3,350,714 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.