Atomi Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,951 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

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Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,037 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,698,277 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $149,720,000 after purchasing an additional 950,204 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 46.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 16,720 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 5,273 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter valued at about $473,000. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $802,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. Argus upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded NetApp from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. TD Cowen increased their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating and set a $155.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $122.67.

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Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on NetApp

NetApp Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $131.91 on Thursday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $127.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $113.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.82 and a 12-month high of $135.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

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NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 114.54% and a net margin of 15.73%. NetApp's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. Analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. NetApp's payout ratio is 44.83%.

NetApp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to reacquire up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 314,274 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.36, for a total transaction of $1,108,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 314,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,968,758.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.46, for a total transaction of $2,848,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 64,789 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,583.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,786 shares of company stock worth $5,395,146. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

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.

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