Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Raises Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,496 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in NetApp were worth $7,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP opened at $123.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $120.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.03. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.43 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $25.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 266,765 shares in the company, valued at $31,755,705.60. This trade represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 value of $2,529,780.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,903 shares of company stock worth $7,260,341 in the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. Oppenheimer began coverage on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com upgraded NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Northland Securities upped their target price on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.33.

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.