Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Has $33.72 Million Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 11.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 290,517 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 30,527 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in NetApp were worth $33,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,069,617,000 after purchasing an additional 429,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in NetApp by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,261,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,267,357,000 after buying an additional 199,384 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $738,280,000 after buying an additional 453,324 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $306,440,000. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in shares of NetApp by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,867,000 after acquiring an additional 729,394 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. 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 NetApp stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,402,063.95. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,931 shares of company stock valued at $3,722,979. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Down 3.0 %

NTAP opened at $88.40 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.26. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.70 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $17.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

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.