Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 14,447 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,236,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in NetApp during the second quarter worth about $2,925,168,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,192,354 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,091,499,000 after purchasing an additional 115,451 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,395,423,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in NetApp by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $582,296,000 after purchasing an additional 718,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $458,060,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Evercore set a $210.00 price objective on NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $179.77.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock opened at $187.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.45. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $209.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $175.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.03.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,872,164.54. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total value of $533,283.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 46,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,514,454.40. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,297 shares of company stock valued at $8,758,016. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.