Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Boosts Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,651 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,322 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned about 0.06% of NetApp worth $14,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 302,010 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $37,301,000 after purchasing an additional 24,651 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 20.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 7,318 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 9.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 113,360 shares in the last quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the third quarter worth $4,059,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in NetApp by 232.2% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,731 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $831,000 after buying an additional 4,705 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total value of $1,011,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares in the company, valued at $31,755,705.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,903 shares of company stock worth $7,260,341 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NetApp stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $124.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,496,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,383,597. The company has a market capitalization of $25.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $120.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $121.84. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NTAP. StockNews.com raised NetApp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna cut NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $137.33.

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.