Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,619 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $10,519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $306,440,000. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $241,867,000 after purchasing an additional 729,394 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 276.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $103,431,000 after purchasing an additional 654,626 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $64,683,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP opened at $88.40 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $109.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $117.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.70 and a 52-week high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NTAP. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Susquehanna cut shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,194,282. The trade was a 3.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,931 shares of company stock valued at $3,722,979. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.