Hartford Investment Management Co. Grows Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Aug 19th, 2023

Hartford Investment Management Co. grew its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP – Free Report) by 13.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,227 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,170 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in NetApp by 70.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,329,363 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $691,339,000 after buying an additional 3,439,053 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $138,383,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 628.2% in the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,078,635 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,783,000 after purchasing an additional 930,506 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 23,444.2% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 897,035 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $57,276,000 after purchasing an additional 893,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $33,359,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $75.31 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $76.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.15. The company has a market capitalization of $16.00 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.30. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.08 and a 1-year high of $80.53.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 31st. The data storage provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 93.62%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, July 7th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 6th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. Northland Securities upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $86.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 1st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $67.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, June 1st. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $72.00 to $77.00 in a report on Thursday, June 1st. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $60.00 to $74.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, SpectralCast reiterated a “maintains” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Thursday, June 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.10.

Read Our Latest Research Report on NTAP

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 872 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $64,161.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,026,661.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $315,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 283,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,813,500. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $64,161.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,026,661.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,744 shares of company stock valued at $798,626. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.