Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Has $2.03 Million Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC trimmed its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 79.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,475 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 69,234 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in NetApp were worth $2,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in NetApp by 31.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 784,339 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $96,873,000 after purchasing an additional 187,638 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,998 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $988,000 after buying an additional 459 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth $160,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 343.1% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 227,933 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,152,000 after purchasing an additional 176,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 433,616 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $55,009,000 after purchasing an additional 71,165 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP traded up $2.60 on Friday, hitting $92.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,528,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,932,290. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The company has a market capitalization of $18.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $90.04 and a 200-day moving average of $110.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays raised NetApp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $123.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total transaction of $1,011,840.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,755,705.60. The trade was a 3.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 452 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.75, for a total value of $54,579.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,553 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,395,024.75. This trade represents a 3.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 50,176 shares of company stock worth $5,095,701. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp 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.