NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stake Lessened by Prudential PLC

Prudential PLC lessened its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 26.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,144 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 15,250 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $5,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of NTAP. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $306,440,000. Boston Partners lifted its stake in NetApp by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $241,867,000 after buying an additional 729,394 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 276.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $103,431,000 after acquiring an additional 654,626 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $64,683,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $738,280,000 after acquiring an additional 453,324 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays lowered their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $129.07.

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NetApp Stock Up 0.4 %

NetApp stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $82.64. 2,738,498 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,914,734. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. 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 has a market cap of $16.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $100.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.19.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 directly owns 271,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,375,824.46. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares in the company, valued at $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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.