Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC raised its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 18.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,518 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $524,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, Director Anders Gustafsson bought 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $91.00 per share, with a total value of $254,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at $577,668. This represents a 78.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the transaction, the president now owns 11,928 shares in the company, 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 90 days, insiders have sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $76.14 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $103.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.20. 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 company has a market capitalization of $15.49 billion, a PE ratio of 14.00, a PEG 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued 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 (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

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.