Paradiem LLC Increases Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Paradiem LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 33.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,131 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,940 shares during the period. NetApp makes up 2.3% of Paradiem LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Paradiem LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $8,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 41,209 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,633,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in NetApp by 40.4% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 490 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in NetApp by 82.9% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.60.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $101.33. The stock had a trading volume of 2,124,805 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,401,973. The firm has a market cap of $20.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.03, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.28. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.54 and a 12 month high of $112.48. The business has a fifty day moving average of $100.21 and a 200 day moving average of $89.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.15.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.02 earnings per share. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 45.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total transaction of $862,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 261,202 shares in the company, valued at $26,496,330.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.44, for a total transaction of $862,240.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 261,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,496,330.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.67, for a total transaction of $1,540,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 144,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,877,807.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock worth $4,139,505. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.