Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Acquires New Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,609 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $419,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the third quarter worth $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 2,833.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $2.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $122.09. 1,821,302 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,269,484. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $120.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.76. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $83.80 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $24.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is 38.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $139.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 3,333 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.23, for a total value of $397,393.59. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,277 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,106,096.71. This trade represents a 26.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,610 shares of company stock worth $6,149,531 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.