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

Primecap Management Co. CA cut its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,786,774 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 718,190 shares during the quarter. NetApp accounts for about 1.3% of Primecap Management Co. CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Primecap Management Co. CA owned approximately 0.07% of NetApp worth $1,775,736,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 706.3% in the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 258 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total value of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,581,670.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,387,583.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.07, for a total value of $60,147.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at $1,581,670.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $117.86 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $124.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.29. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.82 and a 12 month high of $135.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $24.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to repurchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Loop Capital raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.06.

NetApp Company 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.