Millstone Evans Group LLC Takes $59,000 Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 508 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $59,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of NetApp by 53.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,867,000 after purchasing an additional 729,394 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of NetApp by 276.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $103,431,000 after purchasing an additional 654,626 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $64,683,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $738,280,000 after purchasing an additional 453,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of NetApp by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,948,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $228,492,000 after purchasing an additional 397,871 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock worth $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP stock opened at $92.25 on Monday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $89.88 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $18.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $112.44 and a 200 day moving average of $118.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.07.

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.