Larson Financial Group LLC Boosts Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 10,431.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,686 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,651 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth about $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Robbins Farley purchased a new position in NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on NTAP shares. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $134.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 1,685 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.60, for a total transaction of $208,266.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $126.18 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $122.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.56 and a 52 week high of $135.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.24%.

About NetApp

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.