Korea Investment CORP Boosts Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Korea Investment CORP lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 40.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 156,306 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 45,076 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.08% of NetApp worth $18,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in NetApp by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,069,617,000 after purchasing an additional 429,343 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,261,170 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,267,357,000 after purchasing an additional 199,384 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $738,280,000 after buying an additional 453,324 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in NetApp by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $241,867,000 after buying an additional 729,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in NetApp by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,948,917 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $228,492,000 after buying an additional 397,871 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NTAP shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $129.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, Director Anders Gustafsson purchased 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $91.00 per share, with a total value of $254,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $577,668. This trade represents a 78.92 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 451 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $90.18. 720,885 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,854,559. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.86. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.40 and a 52-week high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

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.