NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stake Lifted by World Investment Advisors

World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 62.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,976 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,978 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in NetApp were worth $1,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 826.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 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 that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total transaction of $1,509,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 directly owns 271,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,375,824.46. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP stock opened at $76.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $105.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $74.83 and a 12 month high of $135.45.

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 given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

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.