TCW Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

TCW Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 14.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 410,513 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 69,841 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. owned about 0.20% of NetApp worth $36,059,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 929.6% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC grew its position in NetApp by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in NetApp by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total transaction of $106,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,590,976.84. This represents a 3.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.78, for a total value of $865,130.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 296,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,208,812.90. This trade represents a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,302 shares of company stock valued at $1,920,479 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $104.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $21.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.42. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.84 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $103.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a net margin of 18.05% and a return on equity of 126.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.86.

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.