Primecap Management Co. CA Lowers Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Primecap Management Co. CA decreased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,427,406 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 359,368 shares during the period. NetApp comprises approximately 1.2% of Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Primecap Management Co. CA owned 0.07% of NetApp worth $1,658,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in NetApp by 11.8% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 784 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $792,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its position in NetApp by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in NetApp by 11.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its holdings in NetApp by 0.5% in the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,920 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,437,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total transaction of $397,393.59. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,096.71. The trade was a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851 in the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.06.

NetApp Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NTAP opened at $123.45 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $25.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.30 and a 12 month high of $135.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $121.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.11. NetApp had a net margin of 17.01% and a return on equity of 121.41%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 40.63%.

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.