Moran Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Moran Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 203,345 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 3,644 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $17,862,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,794 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $395,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management boosted its stake in NetApp by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 68,897 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,998,000 after purchasing an additional 37,684 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in NetApp by 39.6% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 36,998 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,250,000 after buying an additional 10,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,151,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $104.27 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $96.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.54. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.89 billion, a PE ratio of 18.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 36.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total value of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,075,309.20. This trade represents a 62.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Anders Gustafsson acquired 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $91.00 per share, with a total value of $254,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $577,668. This trade represents a 78.92% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,998 shares of company stock worth $3,366,108. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a “cautious” rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.79.

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.