Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super Buys New Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super purchased a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 76,720 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,906,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in NetApp by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,597 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $1.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $82.61. 1,602,025 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,929,117. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $96.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.86. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $135.45. 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 company has a market cap of $16.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 271,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,375,824.46. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total value of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,075,309.20. This represents a 62.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,176 shares of company stock worth $5,445,901. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on NTAP. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $125.07.

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.