Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Takes $5.15 Million Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 44,375 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,151,000.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the sale, the president now owns 11,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,075,309.20. This trade represents a 62.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573 in the last quarter. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Susquehanna downgraded shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $89.49 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $108.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $116.86. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $86.40 and a twelve month high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

NetApp 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.