Norges Bank Invests $306.44 Million in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,639,904 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $306,440,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.30% of NetApp as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in NetApp by 826.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Susquehanna cut shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays cut their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $48,882.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,194,282. The trade was a 3.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. The trade was a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock worth $6,252,759. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $88.40 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.25. 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. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.14 and a 52-week high of $135.45. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.