Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Increases Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 120.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 140,993 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 77,059 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned approximately 0.07% of NetApp worth $12,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in NetApp by 65.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 88,615 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $7,812,000 after acquiring an additional 35,172 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in NetApp by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 317,073 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,855,000 after acquiring an additional 65,644 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC grew its position in NetApp by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 147,518 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $13,005,000 after acquiring an additional 28,609 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in NetApp by 2.2% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 86,556 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $6,568,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in NetApp in the third quarter worth approximately $1,171,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Down 2.2 %

NetApp stock traded down $2.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $97.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,692,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,283,203. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.92 and a fifty-two week high of $112.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company has a market cap of $20.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.52.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.25. NetApp had a return on equity of 109.49% and a net margin of 15.21%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.02 earnings per share. NetApp's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.45%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $876,860.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 252,702 shares in the company, valued at $26,068,738.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 871 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.02, for a total value of $89,730.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,095.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,371 shares of company stock worth $4,139,505. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on NetApp from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. TD Cowen raised their price target on NetApp from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on NetApp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on NetApp from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Argus upgraded NetApp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.94.

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.