Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,118 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 826.9% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $91.49 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $115.94 and its 200 day moving average is $119.69. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.08 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.82, 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.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors 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 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. Northland Securities upped their target price on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $48,882.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at $34,774,104.78. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,431 shares of company stock valued at $7,309,224 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.