Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Increases Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,597 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $395,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 8.9% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 302,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $37,301,000 after buying an additional 24,651 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 20.9% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 42,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,225,000 after buying an additional 7,318 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,346,212 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $156,268,000 after buying an additional 113,360 shares during the period. Finally, Hilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the third quarter worth $4,059,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $91.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $115.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $119.69. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.08 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $18.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.82, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. This represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $48,882.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,194,282. The trade was a 3.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 61,431 shares of company stock valued at $7,309,224. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Twelve equities research 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.