KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys Shares of 257,502 NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 257,502 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,891,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS owned 0.13% of NetApp as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,794 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $395,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 68,897 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,998,000 after acquiring an additional 37,684 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 42,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,225,000 after purchasing an additional 7,318 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in NetApp by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,346,212 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $156,268,000 after purchasing an additional 113,360 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $92.25 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $89.88 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $18.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $112.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.07.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.52%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,375,824.46. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.