Northern Trust Corp Increases Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 550,607 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.39% of NetApp worth $327,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 826.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of NetApp from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $123.07.

NetApp Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NTAP traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $93.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 285,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,926,331. The stock has a market cap of $18.92 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The company's 50 day moving average is $88.80 and its 200 day moving average is $109.79.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 249,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,438,269.95. This represents a 3.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 528 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $48,882.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,676 shares of company stock worth $3,586,451. 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.