NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Position Increased by Monument Capital Management

Monument Capital Management raised its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,749 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares during the quarter. Monument Capital Management’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. State Street Corp raised its holdings in NetApp by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,261,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,267,357,000 after acquiring an additional 199,384 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 8.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $738,280,000 after buying an additional 453,324 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in NetApp by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,346,212 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $156,268,000 after acquiring an additional 113,360 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 276.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $103,431,000 after buying an additional 654,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 31.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 784,339 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $96,873,000 after acquiring an additional 187,638 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $119.06 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $24.21 billion, a PE ratio of 21.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $83.80 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $120.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,774,104.78. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,403 shares of company stock worth $6,248,501. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NTAP. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Susquehanna downgraded shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.53.

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.