Wakefield Asset Management LLLP Acquires 171 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Wakefield Asset Management LLLP lifted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,797 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP’s holdings in NetApp were worth $557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,724 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,120,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $395,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $11,953,000. Advisor OS LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $567,000. Finally, Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,643,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Trading Down 5.0 %

NTAP opened at $118.22 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $86.43 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $120.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23. 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 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,774,104.78. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 60,903 shares of company stock valued at $7,260,341. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on NetApp from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.33.

NetApp Company 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.