Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Buys 1,365 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 9th, 2023

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP – Get Rating) by 9,100.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,380 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,365 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $83,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in NetApp by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,321 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in NetApp by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,884 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,579 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Lapides Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Lapides Asset Management LLC now owns 63,300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,802,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, CI Investments Inc. grew its holdings in NetApp by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 4,112 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. 87.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock opened at $64.00 on Tuesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.08 and a 52 week high of $79.09. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $63.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17. The stock has a market cap of $13.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.20.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The data storage provider reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 19.93% and a return on equity of 103.19%. NetApp’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 6th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 4,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.04, for a total value of $292,680.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 147,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,571,936.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.09, for a total transaction of $1,081,620.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 44,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,774.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.04, for a total transaction of $292,680.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 147,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,571,936.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,664,033. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on NetApp from $75.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Susquehanna decreased their price target on NetApp from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on NetApp from $74.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Loop Capital reduced their target price on NetApp from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.24.

NetApp Profile

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NetApp, Inc provides software, systems, and services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. The company offers cloud data services, including NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for AWS, NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, NetApp Cloud Sync, NetApp Cloud Secure, NetApp Cloud Tiering, NetApp SaaS Backup, NetApp Kubernetes Service, and NetApp Cloud Insights.