Sanctuary Advisors LLC Buys New Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,414 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,457,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of NTAP. Park Square Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction of $193,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,872,164.54. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total value of $38,495.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $186,488.10. The trade was a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 55,297 shares of company stock valued at $8,758,016 in the last quarter. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on NTAP. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen cut NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America lifted their price target on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $179.77.

NetApp Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $193.85 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $38.04 billion, a PE ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $174.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.07. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $209.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Profile

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.