Allstate Corp Makes New Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 5,961 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $692,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in NetApp by 826.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America raised NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $129.07.

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NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP traded down $8.88 during trading on Thursday, reaching $81.61. 3,332,629 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,867,032. The company has a 50-day moving average of $107.74 and a 200-day moving average of $116.68. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.95 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,075,309.20. This represents a 62.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares in the company, valued at $14,880,359.82. This trade represents a 9.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.