Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Sells 20,800 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. has reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 11.8%, selling 20,800 shares and retaining 155,500 shares valued at approximately $13.66 million.
• Insider trading activity includes CEO George Kurian selling 8,500 shares for approximately $925,225, and that company insiders collectively sold 27,500 shares in the past ninety days.
• NetApp announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, representing an annual yield of 1.8%, with the dividend set to be paid on October 22nd.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. cut its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 11.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 155,500 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 20,800 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.08% of NetApp worth $13,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $247,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,090 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,519,000 after buying an additional 2,894 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 28,654 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,326,000 after buying an additional 1,513 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 58,817 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $6,828,000 after buying an additional 15,232 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in NetApp by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,112,833 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $129,178,000 after purchasing an additional 134,367 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.85, for a total transaction of $925,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 283,688 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,879,438.80. The trade was a 2.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total transaction of $105,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,462,280.90. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,921,775 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Thursday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $124.07.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP opened at $118.75 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $107.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.31. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.84 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 36.75%.

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.

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