Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 8,896 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 182,867 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,896 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned approximately 0.09% of NetApp worth $22,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in NetApp by 36.9% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 41,206 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,089,000 after buying an additional 11,106 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $402,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 537,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $66,424,000 after acquiring an additional 90,840 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 66.5% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,989 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $122.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.93 billion, a PE ratio of 22.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $83.62 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.05.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.24%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total value of $88,971.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $38,285.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,851 in the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Loop Capital raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Northland Securities lifted their target price on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $121.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.40.

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.