Easterly Investment Partners LLC reduced its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 49.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,019 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 8,000 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 46.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 16,720 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,754,000 after buying an additional 5,273 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the first quarter valued at $473,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 60.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 527,064 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $55,355,000 after purchasing an additional 198,627 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 221.9% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 301,699 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $32,731,000 after buying an additional 207,968 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in NetApp by 63.9% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 343,218 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $36,025,000 after acquiring an additional 133,813 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at $1,475,782.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 292,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,922,233.58. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172 in the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Several research firms recently issued reports on NTAP. UBS Group boosted their price target on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $129.06.
Read Our Latest Research Report on NTAP
NASDAQ NTAP opened at $124.01 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $121.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.17. The stock has a market cap of $25.39 billion, a PE ratio of 24.22, a PEG ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.96. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.32 and a fifty-two week high of $135.01.
NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. NetApp's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.63%.
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.
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