NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Purchased by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 180.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,168 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,466 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 59.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,643,146 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $211,637,000 after acquiring an additional 613,583 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $738,280,000 after purchasing an additional 453,324 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,074,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in NetApp by 38.5% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,232,852 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $152,270,000 after buying an additional 342,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA boosted its stake in NetApp by 926.1% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 283,674 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $35,022,000 after buying an additional 256,028 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 451 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 326 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $38,285.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 51,610 shares of company stock valued at $6,149,531. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on NetApp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of NetApp from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $160.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $139.20.

NetApp Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of 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 quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $83.80 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The company has a market capitalization of $24.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.23. The firm's 50-day moving average is $120.88 and its 200 day moving average is $122.82.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The data storage provider reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.09. NetApp had a net margin of 17.78% and a return on equity of 123.63%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.88 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd 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 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.24%.

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.