NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stake Raised by Wakefield Asset Management LLLP

Wakefield Asset Management LLLP grew its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,797 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP’s holdings in NetApp were worth $557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 2,833.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the third quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the third quarter valued at $51,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Susquehanna downgraded shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total transaction of $1,509,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. This represents a 9.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total transaction of $1,056,465.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at $34,774,104.78. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,903 shares of company stock worth $7,260,341 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP stock opened at $118.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $120.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $86.43 and a 12 month high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 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.