Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Makes New $7.94 Million Investment in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 68,363 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,936,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in NetApp by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,794 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,485,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $395,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 68,897 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $7,998,000 after purchasing an additional 37,684 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,346,212 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $156,268,000 after purchasing an additional 113,360 shares during the period. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $5,151,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,075,309.20. This represents a 62.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total transaction of $695,555.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 249,765 shares in the company, valued at $20,438,269.95. This represents a 3.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 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 company insiders.

NetApp Trading Down 0.5%

NTAP stock traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $98.68. The company had a trading volume of 7,013,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,937,039. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.84 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $90.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.10. The stock has a market cap of $20.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.63% and a net margin of 17.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.80 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on NTAP shares. Loop Capital lowered their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $118.93.

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.