Allianz SE Invests $1.88 Million in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 16,112 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,877,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in NetApp by 1.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in NetApp by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,597 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Down 3.0 %

NTAP stock opened at $88.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $109.82 and a 200-day moving average of $117.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $88.14 and a one year high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 271,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,375,824.46. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock worth $6,252,759. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NTAP. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays decreased their target price on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Susquehanna lowered shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

About NetApp

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.