Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Has $1.57 Million Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 111.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,666 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 48.3% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,375,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $249,307,000 after buying an additional 773,773 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in NetApp by 59.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,643,146 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $211,637,000 after purchasing an additional 613,583 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $56,313,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,074,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 796.4% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 237,902 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $24,973,000 after purchasing an additional 211,363 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,922,233.58. This represents a 2.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,475,782.80. This trade represents a 5.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,890 shares of company stock worth $1,369,172. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP opened at $118.07 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $121.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.74. The company has a market capitalization of $24.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.91. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.41 and a 1 year high of $135.01.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 40.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price 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. Loop Capital raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on NetApp from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.