Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 32,745 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 77.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,047 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 32,745 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $8,711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position 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 stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $90.92 on Wednesday. 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 firm's 50-day moving average price is $116.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $119.89. The company has a market capitalization of $18.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.08 and a 1-year high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is 38.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Northland Securities boosted their price target on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. 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, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $129.07.

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Insider Activity

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company's stock, 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 link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 279,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $34,774,104.78. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 61,431 shares of company stock worth $7,309,224. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

NetApp Company 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.

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