QRG Capital Management Inc. Buys 4,537 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,724 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,537 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in NetApp were worth $6,120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $395,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $11,953,000. Advisor OS LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $567,000. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $2,643,000. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,132 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NetApp stock traded down $4.08 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $95.73. The stock had a trading volume of 3,429,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,781,472. The firm's fifty day moving average is $119.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $121.54. The company has a market capitalization of $19.46 billion, a PE ratio of 17.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $95.18 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NTAP. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Barclays lowered their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $130.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total transaction of $1,011,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 266,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,755,705.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 451 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,402,063.95. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,903 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,341 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp 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.