AQR Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 45.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 860,350 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 715,719 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.42% of NetApp worth $99,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 4.8% in the 4th 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 shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $395,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management boosted its stake in NetApp by 120.7% in the 4th quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 68,897 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $7,998,000 after purchasing an additional 37,684 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in NetApp by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,346,212 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $156,268,000 after purchasing an additional 113,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,151,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total value of $1,011,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,755,705.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. The trade was a 9.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,176 shares of company stock valued at $5,095,701 over the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Stock Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $2.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $92.33. The company had a trading volume of 1,528,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,935,233. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $89.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.25. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.97, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were paid 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 2.25%. NetApp's payout ratio is 38.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. Loop Capital dropped their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective 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, Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.07.

NetApp Company Profile

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.