Everence Capital Management Inc. Has $511,000 Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Everence Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 45.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,800 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 4,930 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 66.3% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,740 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 3,086 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in NetApp by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 29,741 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in NetApp by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 139,507 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $11,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC raised its stake in NetApp by 41.0% during the 1st quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 98,770 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $8,198,000 after purchasing an additional 28,705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at $465,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $100.91 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.92 and a 12 month high of $112.48. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $98.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The firm has a market cap of $20.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 EPS 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 firm 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 firm earned $1.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $89,730.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the transaction, 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 three months, insiders have sold 40,371 shares of company stock worth $4,139,505. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on NTAP. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Argus raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.94.

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.