NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lessened its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 13.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,300 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 27,500 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.09% of NetApp worth $20,465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 27,288 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,168,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 6,066 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $704,000 after buying an additional 1,177 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in NetApp by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 356,313 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $41,362,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinebridge Investments L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 135,559 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $15,736,000 after purchasing an additional 37,573 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI decreased 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 report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.07.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was 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 directly owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,075,309.20. This trade represents a 62.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares in the company, valued at $14,880,359.82. This represents a 9.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,176 shares of company stock valued at $5,095,701. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NTAP traded up $2.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $91.73. 342,832 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,927,679. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.84 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.48. The stock has a market cap of $18.66 billion, a PE ratio of 16.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

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.