OmniStar Financial Group Inc. Sells 10,151 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

OmniStar Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 63.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,753 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 10,151 shares during the period. OmniStar Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the third quarter valued at approximately $230,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 2.4% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 5,108 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 38,478 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,752,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the third quarter worth $718,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in NetApp in the third quarter valued at $602,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ NTAP traded down $1.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $125.40. 231,321 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,834,043. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.82 and a 12-month high of $135.01. The firm has a market cap of $25.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 1.23. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $123.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on NTAP. Loop Capital raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $116.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $208,266.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.