Foster & Motley Inc. Has $3.62 Million Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Foster & Motley Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 41,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $3,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 4,687.6% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,068,694 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $93,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,372 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $815,402,000 after acquiring an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 5,858.0% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $103,942,000 after acquiring an additional 880,406 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in NetApp by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $327,848,000 after acquiring an additional 550,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 97.7% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,096,236 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $96,293,000 after acquiring an additional 541,837 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays upped their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “cautious” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.86.

NetApp Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NTAP opened at $106.08 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.84 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.42. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $103.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.27.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.62%.

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.