Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Has $231.19 Million Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. by 6.8%, now owning approximately 1.31% of the company, valued at $231.19 million.
• NetApp announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, with the payout representing a 1.7% yield.
• Recent analyst reports show a consensus rating of "Hold" for NetApp, with price targets ranging from $100.00 to $150.00.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lessened its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,631,939 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 192,063 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 1.31% of NetApp worth $231,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 39.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 36,998 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,250,000 after buying an additional 10,494 shares during the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 55.8% in the 1st quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 221,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $19,492,000 after buying an additional 79,457 shares during the last quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $321,000. UNICOM Systems Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $13,483,000. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,050,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, 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 transaction 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 trade represents a 4.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.85, for a total value of $925,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 283,688 shares in the company, valued at $30,879,438.80. The trade was a 2.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,000 shares of company stock worth $2,180,315 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price target on NetApp in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $124.07.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock traded up $0.74 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $124.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 572,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,052,997. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.84 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $109.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.80. The stock has a market cap of $24.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date 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.