Palouse Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,303 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,025 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,303 shares during the quarter. NetApp makes up approximately 1.9% of Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 82.9% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, First Pacific Financial acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on NTAP. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Wedbush raised their price target on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.75, for a total value of $770,625.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 152,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,660,024.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.67, for a total transaction of $1,540,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 144,909 shares in the company, valued at $14,877,807.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.75, for a total value of $770,625.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 152,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,660,024.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $2.19 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $97.95. 1,692,487 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,881,377. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.15. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $98.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.42. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.92 and a 12 month high of $112.48.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 109.49% and a net margin of 15.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.02 earnings per share. Analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.45%.

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.