NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Position Lowered by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 9.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 345,040 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 36,823 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of NetApp worth $26,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 51.6% in the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 464 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 34.3% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 595 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 41.1% during the 2nd quarter. Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc. now owns 748 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthPLAN Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter worth $65,000. 90.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. StockNews.com raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $89.00 to $88.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. TD Cowen raised their target price on NetApp from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on NetApp from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.84.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.58, for a total value of $69,314.18. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,016,236.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.58, for a total transaction of $69,314.18. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,016,236.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.44, for a total value of $1,747,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 103,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,234,670.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 76,489 shares of company stock worth $5,909,145. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $77.94 on Tuesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.08 and a 12-month high of $80.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $75.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.09, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.20.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 23rd. The data storage provider reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 85.69%. The business’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. Equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 6th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 5th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 36.17%.

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.