First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,744,058 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 135,751 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.86% of NetApp worth $202,450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 826.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on NTAP. StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Susquehanna lowered 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 report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price 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. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $125.07.

NetApp Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $3.29 on Thursday, hitting $88.17. 1,812,990 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,151,238. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $94.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.03. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $71.84 and a one year high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of NetApp 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 directly owns 11,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,075,309.20. The trade was a 62.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total transaction of $695,555.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 249,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,438,269.95. The trade was a 3.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 50,176 shares of company stock valued at $5,095,701. 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.