Neuberger Berman Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Neuberger Berman Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 328,420 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 44,974 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned about 0.16% of NetApp worth $38,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $1.10 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $82.18. The company had a trading volume of 2,539,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,921,839. The company has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $99.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.85. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45.

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NetApp Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp's payout ratio is 38.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. The trade was a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,075,309.20. The trade was a 62.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,176 shares of company stock worth $5,445,901 over the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Susquehanna cut shares of NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $127.73.

NetApp Company 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.