NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Bought by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 29.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 209,295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 47,857 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.10% of NetApp worth $24,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in NetApp by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,794 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at $395,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management increased its holdings in NetApp by 120.7% in the fourth quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 68,897 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,998,000 after buying an additional 37,684 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in NetApp by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,346,212 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $156,268,000 after buying an additional 113,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at $5,151,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Trading Up 1.1%

NTAP opened at $99.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.25 billion, a PE ratio of 18.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $88.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total transaction of $1,011,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,755,705.60. This trade represents a 3.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 37,224 shares of company stock valued at $3,531,872. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays raised shares of NetApp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Susquehanna lowered shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.07.

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.