Vanguard Group Inc. Has $3.07 Billion Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 429,343 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of NetApp worth $3,069,617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 826.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $94.39 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $111.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.20 billion, a PE ratio of 17.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $89.88 and a 12-month high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,880,359.82. The trade was a 9.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 $33,375,824.46. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

NetApp Company 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.