Benjamin Edwards Inc. Lowers Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. cut its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,109 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 229 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth approximately $269,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 48.1% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 14,636 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 4,753 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth approximately $464,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.2% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 496,296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $37,659,000 after purchasing an additional 10,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 1.4% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 15,238 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $0.27 during trading on Thursday, hitting $101.26. 463,329 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,831,448. The company has a market cap of $20.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $101.21 and a 200 day moving average of $89.91. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.54 and a 52-week high of $112.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on NetApp from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.60.

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.