Truist Financial Corp Grows Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,527 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 910 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 14,650.0% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the third quarter worth $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 82.9% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 40.4% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 490 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.67, for a total value of $1,540,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 144,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,877,807.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,371 shares of company stock valued at $4,139,505. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 1.2 %

NTAP opened at $108.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.33 billion, a PE ratio of 24.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.15. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.29 and a 1 year high of $112.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $103.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.10.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 45.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Wedbush increased their price target on NetApp from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.60.

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.