Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 11,457 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,443 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 11,457 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in NetApp by 11.8% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 784 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Aviso Wealth Management increased its position in shares of NetApp by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 6,149 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in NetApp by 11.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in NetApp by 0.5% in the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,920 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,437,000 after acquiring an additional 95 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, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total value of $397,393.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. This trade represents a 26.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $38,285.44. 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 owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Down 3.4 %

NTAP stock opened at $122.34 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $121.87 and its 200-day moving average is $122.59. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.56 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.05 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share (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 119.68%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NTAP. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price target on NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.00.

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.