NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Bought by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 14.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 546,642 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 68,194 shares during the period. NetApp comprises about 1.1% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.27% of NetApp worth $63,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 302,010 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $37,301,000 after acquiring an additional 24,651 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in NetApp by 20.9% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 42,302 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $5,225,000 after purchasing an additional 7,318 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in NetApp by 4.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 186,777 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $24,057,000 after purchasing an additional 8,305 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the third quarter worth approximately $4,059,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 202.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 266,262 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $32,886,000 after buying an additional 178,135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $2.11 on Friday, hitting $122.09. 1,821,302 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,269,484. 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 $120.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $122.82. The firm 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. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $83.80 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $119.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised NetApp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $139.20.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.11, for a total transaction of $1,071,935.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 292,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,922,233.58. This trade represents a 2.82 % 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 valued at $6,149,531 in the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.