NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 950,459 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 23,568 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.47% of NetApp worth $110,329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in NetApp by 826.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Down 6.8 %

NetApp stock traded down $5.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $76.10. 3,381,917 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,873,957. The company has a market cap of $15.48 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $74.83 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company's fifty day moving average price is $105.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 Activity

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total value of $1,775,594.40. Following the transaction, the president now owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at $1,075,309.20. The trade was a 62.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 451 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NTAP. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Susquehanna cut shares of NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, 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. Twelve 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $129.07.

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.