NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Sold by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lessened its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 30.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 109,732 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 47,175 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of NetApp worth $12,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 826.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in NetApp by 929.6% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 278 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on NTAP. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Susquehanna downgraded shares of NetApp from a "positive" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $124.07.

NetApp Trading Up 0.7%

NTAP traded up $0.71 during trading on Friday, hitting $100.53. 1,698,642 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,919,271. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $88.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.46. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.84 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $20.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were given 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 2.07%. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total value of $1,775,594.40. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,075,309.20. This represents a 62.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total transaction of $1,011,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 266,765 shares in the company, valued at $31,755,705.60. This represents a 3.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 37,224 shares of company stock valued at $3,531,872. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

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.