Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Grows Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 5,858.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 895,435 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 880,406 shares during the quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. owned approximately 0.44% of NetApp worth $103,942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $306,440,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $815,402,000 after purchasing an additional 888,671 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $241,867,000 after purchasing an additional 729,394 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of NetApp by 276.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $103,431,000 after buying an additional 654,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $64,683,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.83, for a total transaction of $695,555.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 528 shares of NetApp 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 owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,194,282. This trade represents a 3.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,224 shares of company stock valued at $3,531,872 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

NetApp Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NTAP stock traded up $1.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $99.55. The stock had a trading volume of 680,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,078,375. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.25 billion, a PE ratio of 18.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $88.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.87. 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.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on NTAP. Loop Capital lowered their price target on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of NetApp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $115.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.07.

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.