Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Trims Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lowered its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 30.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 194,266 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 86,192 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.10% of NetApp worth $22,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 31.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 784,339 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $96,873,000 after buying an additional 187,638 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in NetApp by 73.1% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,608 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 3,213 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,998 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $988,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $160,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 343.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 227,933 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,152,000 after purchasing an additional 176,495 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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 stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,880,359.82. This trade represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total transaction of $1,045,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 271,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,375,824.46. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,176 shares of company stock worth $5,445,901 in the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup cut their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased 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. Twelve equities 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, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.07.

NetApp Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NTAP opened at $82.61 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.84 and a 52-week high of $135.45. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $96.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $112.79. The company has a market capitalization of $16.80 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.