Aviva PLC Sells 189,865 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Aviva PLC trimmed its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 60.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 126,568 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 189,865 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC owned 0.06% of NetApp worth $14,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $77.07 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $104.99 and a 200 day moving average of $115.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,375,824.46. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays dropped their target price 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. Bank of America raised NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

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.