AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs Buys New Stake in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs acquired a new stake in NetApp, Inc., purchasing 9,916 shares valued at approximately $871,000 in the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds have increased or started new positions in NetApp, with over 92% of the stock now owned by institutional investors.
• NetApp announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52, representing an annualized dividend yield of 1.7%, set to be paid on October 22nd.

AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 9,916 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $871,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 49,177 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,708,000 after purchasing an additional 5,279 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $784,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 41,208 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $4,783,000 after acquiring an additional 3,938 shares during the period. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,156,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 125,740 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $14,594,000 after purchasing an additional 33,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $2.32 during trading on Thursday, hitting $126.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 802,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,052,860. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company has a market cap of $25.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.46. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $110.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.29.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.08, for a total transaction of $918,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 288,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,160,004.40. The trade was a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.67, for a total value of $123,670.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 23,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,922,074.76. This represents a 4.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,180,315. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Northland Securities increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on NetApp from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Argus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, August 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $124.07.

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.