AG Asset Advisory LLC Makes New Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

AG Asset Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,056 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $587,000. NetApp accounts for approximately 0.6% of AG Asset Advisory LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 31.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 784,339 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $96,873,000 after acquiring an additional 187,638 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,415 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 128.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,038 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 27,090 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 13,940 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $99.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,810,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,918,687. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The firm's 50 day moving average is $90.02 and its 200-day moving average is $107.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $20.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI reduced 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 note on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $121.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Anders Gustafsson purchased 2,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $91.00 per share, with a total value of $254,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 6,348 shares of the company's stock, valued at $577,668. The trade was a 78.92% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 528 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $48,882.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,724 shares of company stock valued at $2,520,032 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.