Ariel Investments LLC Lowers Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Ariel Investments LLC lessened its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 391,603 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 16,304 shares during the quarter. Ariel Investments LLC owned approximately 0.19% of NetApp worth $45,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Norges Bank bought a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $306,440,000. Boston Partners boosted its position in NetApp by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $241,867,000 after purchasing an additional 729,394 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in NetApp by 276.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $103,431,000 after acquiring an additional 654,626 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $64,683,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $327,848,000 after acquiring an additional 550,607 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Susquehanna lowered NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays raised shares of NetApp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $123.07.

NetApp Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $93.01. 2,246,822 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,927,961. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $88.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.67. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $18.92 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. 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 Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.52%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 directly 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 452 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.75, for a total transaction of $54,579.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,553 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,395,024.75. The trade was a 3.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,676 shares of company stock worth $3,586,451 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.