Talos Asset Management LP Buys New Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Talos Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 38,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,469,000. NetApp comprises about 1.1% of Talos Asset Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 66.0% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 72,137 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $8,910,000 after buying an additional 28,693 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in NetApp by 0.6% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 92,817 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $11,463,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 24.5% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 9,461 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,169,000 after buying an additional 1,864 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 19.6% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 9,348 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,155,000 after buying an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in NetApp during the third quarter worth about $744,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.07.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total transaction of $1,045,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $93.53 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $89.88 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $113.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.46. The firm has a market cap of $19.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 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.