Vestcor Inc Boosts Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP – Free Report) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,271 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in NetApp by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,597 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Northland Securities raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Susquehanna lowered NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

Get Our Latest Research Report on NTAP

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total value of $1,056,465.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at $34,774,104.78. The trade was a 2.95 % 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, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $48,882.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,194,282. This trade represents a 3.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,431 shares of company stock worth $7,309,224 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $91.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $18.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.20. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $89.88 and a one year high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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 2.26%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

NetApp Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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