Vestcor Inc Boosts Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Vestcor Inc grew its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 111.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,565,000 after buying an additional 6,666 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 42.1% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,719 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $459,000 after acquiring an additional 1,101 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the third quarter worth about $295,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 236,407 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,198,000 after acquiring an additional 6,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of NetApp by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,474 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP opened at $91.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $114.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.20. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $89.88 and a 1 year high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on NTAP. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Susquehanna lowered shares of 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 report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total transaction of $1,011,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 266,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,755,705.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $48,882.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,431 shares of company stock worth $7,309,224 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.