DnB Asset Management AS Has $4.33 Million Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

DnB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 37,330 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 826.9% in 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 during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total value 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 approximately $31,755,705.60. This trade represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,931 shares of company stock valued at $3,722,979 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $88.40 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. 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 twelve month low of $86.95 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $109.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.26.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Susquehanna lowered NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus 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.