Meridian Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,951 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. KBC Group NV boosted its position in NetApp by 276.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $103,431,000 after purchasing an additional 654,626 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 8.2% in the third 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. Unigestion Holding SA boosted its position in NetApp by 926.1% in the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 283,674 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $35,022,000 after purchasing an additional 256,028 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in NetApp by 546.8% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 289,504 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,606,000 after purchasing an additional 244,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in NetApp in the third quarter worth about $27,721,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NTAP opened at $94.87 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $118.42 and its 200 day moving average is $121.10. The company has a market capitalization of $19.30 billion, a PE ratio of 17.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $92.59 and a 12-month 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp 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 sale, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total value of $1,011,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 266,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,755,705.60. The trade was a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,903 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,341 in the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna cut NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.