Vinva Investment Management Ltd Buys 26,105 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 210,769 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,105 shares during the period. NetApp comprises approximately 1.0% of Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Vinva Investment Management Ltd owned 0.10% of NetApp worth $24,628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Boston Partners raised its holdings in NetApp by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,867,000 after acquiring an additional 729,394 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in NetApp by 276.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $103,431,000 after acquiring an additional 654,626 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $64,683,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $738,280,000 after buying an additional 453,324 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in NetApp by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,948,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $228,492,000 after buying an additional 397,871 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. This trade represents a 9.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Susquehanna lowered NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays dropped their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

NetApp Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $92.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $89.88 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.63.

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 issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

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.