Candriam S.C.A. Raises Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Candriam S.C.A. grew its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 820 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in NetApp by 826.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 2,833.3% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, 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 directly owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at $1,402,063.95. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 60,903 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,341. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $93.77 on Monday. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.16 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $117.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $120.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $19.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on NTAP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Susquehanna cut shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays cut their target price on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

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.