Simplicity Solutions LLC Sells 211 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Simplicity Solutions LLC decreased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 211 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter valued at $28,000. First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in NetApp during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in NetApp by 82.9% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Down 1.6 %

NTAP opened at $100.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.11. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.92 and a fifty-two week high of $112.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.83 billion, a PE ratio of 22.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average is $98.61 and its 200 day moving average is $88.18.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 45.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 871 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total transaction of $89,730.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.94.

NetApp 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.