iSAM Funds UK Ltd Takes Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,979 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $306,440,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $815,402,000 after buying an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 5,858.0% in the fourth quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $103,942,000 after buying an additional 880,406 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of NetApp by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $241,867,000 after buying an additional 729,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of NetApp by 276.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $103,431,000 after buying an additional 654,626 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP traded down $1.78 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $98.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,840,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,921,258. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $19.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.89.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. NetApp's payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays upgraded NetApp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $121.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 249,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,438,269.95. The trade was a 3.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Anders Gustafsson acquired 2,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $91.00 per share, for a total transaction of $254,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $577,668. This represents a 78.92% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,724 shares of company stock valued at $2,520,032 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.