Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Grows Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 94,682 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,040 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $10,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in NetApp by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,597 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $92.25 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $89.88 and a one year high of $135.45. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $48,882.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock worth $6,252,759. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.07.

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.