Millstone Evans Group LLC Takes $59,000 Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 508 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $59,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in NetApp by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,261,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,267,357,000 after purchasing an additional 199,384 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 8.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $738,280,000 after purchasing an additional 453,324 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in NetApp by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,867,000 after purchasing an additional 729,394 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in NetApp by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,948,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $228,492,000 after purchasing an additional 397,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in NetApp by 9.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 113,360 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total transaction of $1,509,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,880,359.82. The trade was a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Susquehanna downgraded shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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 report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $92.25 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $89.88 and a one year high of $135.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $112.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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

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.