Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Raises Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 176.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,499 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 9,901 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in NetApp were worth $1,799,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 826.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Down 0.7 %

NTAP traded down $0.59 on Monday, hitting $87.87. The company had a trading volume of 269,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,121,346. The company's fifty day moving average price is $92.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.31. 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 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $17.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. Barclays reduced their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wedbush reaffirmed 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. Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.07.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total transaction of $1,509,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. This represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total value of $695,555.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 249,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,438,269.95. The trade was a 3.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,176 shares of company stock worth $5,095,701 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.