Bridgewater Associates LP Has $1.72 Million Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Bridgewater Associates LP increased its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 12.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,788 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,689 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds 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 fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. grew 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total value of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,075,309.20. The trade was a 62.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $33,375,824.46. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,176 shares of company stock valued at $5,445,901. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $82.61 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $96.24 and its 200-day moving average is $112.86. The firm has a market cap of $16.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, 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. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.52%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America raised NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.07.

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.