NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Bought by Stevens Capital Management LP

Stevens Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 277.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,860 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,510 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,375,824.46. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Loop Capital cut their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America raised NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays cut their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $92.25 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $112.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.07. The firm has a market cap of $18.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $89.88 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.52%.

About NetApp

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.