Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 44,375 NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 44,375 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,151,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in NetApp by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 22.3% during the 4th 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. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised 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 during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna lowered shares of NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Down 6.8 %

Shares of NTAP stock traded down $5.51 on Friday, reaching $76.10. 3,381,917 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,873,957. The company has a market capitalization of $15.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The business's 50 day moving average price is $105.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.10. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $74.83 and a twelve month high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 2.73%. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 451 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Anders Gustafsson purchased 2,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $91.00 per share, for a total transaction of $254,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at $577,668. This represents a 78.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,627 shares of company stock valued at $5,498,573. Corporate 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.