MQS Management LLC Sells 641 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

MQS Management LLC lowered its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 22.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,276 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 641 shares during the quarter. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in NetApp by 706.3% during the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter worth $27,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 58.7% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 311 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in NetApp by 82.9% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $0.14 on Thursday, hitting $125.56. 1,466,222 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,961,517. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $124.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.70. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.82 and a 52 week high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $25.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. NetApp’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 5th. This is an increase from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.83%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. One equities research 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.81.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock valued at $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.