TCW Group Inc. Raises Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

TCW Group Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 14.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 502,438 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,223 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $62,056,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2,833.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.20, for a total transaction of $88,971.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,475,782.80. This represents a 5.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total value of $1,003,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 288,282 shares in the company, valued at $34,017,276. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,049 shares of company stock worth $2,807,851. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $121.22 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $122.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.88. The company has a market capitalization of $24.65 billion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $83.62 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Loop Capital upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Northland Securities increased their target price on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.40.

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.