Gallacher Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Gallacher Capital Management LLC cut its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 52.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 4,397 shares during the quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in NetApp by 706.3% in the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Robbins Farley purchased a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $114.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $126.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $114.86. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.82 and a 1-year high of $135.01. The firm has a market cap of $23.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.63 EPS for the current year.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total transaction of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,581,670.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total value of $954,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,604,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total value of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.06.

NetApp Company 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.