NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Holdings Lessened by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 73.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,985 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 78,833 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in NetApp were worth $3,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 86.9% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,565 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122 shares during the last quarter. Shelton Capital Management grew its stake in NetApp by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 185,141 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $21,491,000 after buying an additional 40,002 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in NetApp by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,123,228 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $362,544,000 after buying an additional 529,471 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA lifted its stake in NetApp by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 303,556 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $35,216,000 after buying an additional 19,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 280.1% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 554,399 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $64,355,000 after buying an additional 408,541 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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 report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America raised NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Susquehanna cut NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $127.73.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $1.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $82.18. 2,539,776 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,921,918. The company has a market capitalization of $16.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $98.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $113.63. 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total transaction of $1,045,755.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 271,282 shares in the company, valued at $33,375,824.46. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total transaction of $1,509,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. The trade was a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,176 shares of company stock valued at $5,445,901 over the last three months. Company 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.