Prudential PLC Trims Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Prudential PLC lessened its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 26.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 43,144 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 15,250 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 826.9% in the 4th 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 shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Susquehanna downgraded NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP stock opened at $76.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $15.48 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $105.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.12. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $74.83 and a 12-month high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 2.73%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,375,824.46. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the president now owns 11,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,075,309.20. This represents a 62.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.