Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Buys New Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 14,300 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,660,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Barclays PLC increased its stake in NetApp by 31.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 784,339 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $96,873,000 after buying an additional 187,638 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in NetApp by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,407 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in NetApp by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 11,021 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 2,584 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in NetApp by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,204 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 77.8% in the 4th quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,323 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $503,000 after acquiring an additional 1,891 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 528 shares of the business's 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,194,282. The trade was a 3.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Anders Gustafsson acquired 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $91.00 per share, with a total value of $254,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $577,668. This trade represents a 78.92% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 28,724 shares of company stock valued at $2,520,032 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on NTAP shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Susquehanna downgraded shares of NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $121.40.

NetApp Trading Down 1.8%

NetApp stock traded down $1.78 during trading on Friday, reaching $98.00. The company had a trading volume of 2,840,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,921,258. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45. 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's 50 day moving average price is $89.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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

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.