Natixis Sells 77,794 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Natixis reduced its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 66.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,927 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 77,794 shares during the quarter. Natixis' holdings in NetApp were worth $4,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 62.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 249,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,438,269.95. This trade represents a 3.29 % 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 $5,095,701 in the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP stock traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $88.45. 1,699,069 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,928,325. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $17.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.84 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $93.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $111.78.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. StockNews.com cut shares of NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve investment 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 price target of $125.07.

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.