NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,275 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 265 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,299,008 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $174,449,000 after purchasing an additional 47,040 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of NetApp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,270,712 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $112,026,000 after acquiring an additional 6,512 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in NetApp by 31.7% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,109,662 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $84,202,000 after purchasing an additional 266,812 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 899,155 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $68,228,000 after purchasing an additional 179,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $74,257,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.75, for a total transaction of $770,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 152,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,660,024.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, March 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wedbush lifted their price target on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on NetApp from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.60.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP traded up $3.31 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $107.95. 2,994,601 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,860,694. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.29 and a fifty-two week high of $112.48. The business’s 50 day moving average is $101.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.25. NetApp had a return on equity of 109.49% and a net margin of 15.21%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.45%.

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.