Primecap Management Co. CA Trims Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Primecap Management Co. CA lowered its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,220,339 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 1,207,067 shares during the period. NetApp accounts for 1.1% of Primecap Management Co. CA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Primecap Management Co. CA owned 6.01% of NetApp worth $1,418,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $6,141,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 52.6% during the 4th quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC now owns 2,830 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $435,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its position in NetApp by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 32,286 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,748,000 after buying an additional 4,385 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % 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 this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $92.25. 5,416,936 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,746,193. 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 $112.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $89.88 and a 12-month high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp's payout ratio is 38.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $129.07.

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.