Olympiad Research LP Buys 662 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Olympiad Research LP increased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,104 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the quarter. Olympiad Research LP’s holdings in NetApp were worth $630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 282,467 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271 shares during the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 39,213 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in NetApp by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 43,413 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,362,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,250,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 138.5% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,952,000 after buying an additional 27,980 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Loop Capital upgraded NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.06.

NetApp Stock Up 4.1 %

NetApp stock opened at $121.13 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.66, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $120.98. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $74.82 and a 12 month high of $135.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 121.41% and a net margin of 17.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. Equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 40.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,922,233.58. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on 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 owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total value of $1,071,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares in the company, valued at $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 10,890 shares of company stock valued at $1,369,172. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Company Profile

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.