Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 103,698 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,971,899 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 103,698 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.97% of NetApp worth $228,907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 826.9% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total transaction of $695,555.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 249,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,438,269.95. This represents a 3.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anders Gustafsson bought 2,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $91.00 per share, for a total transaction of $254,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,348 shares of the company's stock, valued at $577,668. This represents a 78.92 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,176 shares of company stock worth $5,095,701 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on NTAP. Loop Capital lowered their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $125.07.

NetApp Trading Up 0.3 %

NTAP stock traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $88.45. 1,699,069 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,928,929. The company has a market cap of $17.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $92.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.31. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $71.84 and a one year high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a $0.52 dividend. 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 2.35%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.