Man Group plc Makes New Investment in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Man Group plc purchased a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 142,261 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $22,016,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Park Square Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $193.85 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $38.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.45. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $209.06. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $137.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their target price on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $179.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total value of $193,820.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,872,164.54. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total transaction of $38,495.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,488.10. This trade represents a 17.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 55,297 shares of company stock valued at $8,758,016 over the last ninety days. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.