Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 52,237 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 538,729 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 52,237 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.26% of NetApp worth $47,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in NetApp by 48.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 14,636 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,111,000 after acquiring an additional 4,753 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in NetApp by 62.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 63,934 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,851,000 after acquiring an additional 24,685 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,297,000. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 50,340 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,820,000 after purchasing an additional 4,471 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 9,369 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 887 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NTAP. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.60.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $104.64 on Monday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.54 and a 1 year high of $112.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $101.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.39. The stock has a market cap of $21.60 billion, a PE ratio of 23.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.27.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.25. NetApp had a net margin of 15.21% and a return on equity of 109.49%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 45.45%.

About NetApp

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.