Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 302,167 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC decreased its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 36.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 519,670 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 302,167 shares during the period. NetApp comprises 1.2% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.25% of NetApp worth $66,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 65,140.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,262 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 3,257 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $236,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 204.0% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 14,952 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,318,000 after buying an additional 10,033 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in NetApp by 14,650.0% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. Finally, Graypoint LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP traded up $4.32 during trading on Thursday, reaching $131.43. 1,888,519 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,927,078. The company has a market capitalization of $27.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a P/E/G ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $126.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.25. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.82 and a 1 year high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 30th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

NetApp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. This is a positive change from NetApp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total transaction of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,334 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.33, for a total value of $424,518.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,458,565.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.24, for a total transaction of $954,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,369 shares in the company, valued at $24,604,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. Citigroup upped their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Susquehanna upped their target price on NetApp from $138.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.00.

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.