Xponance Inc. Grows Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 32.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,303 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,402 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,839,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 66.0% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 72,137 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $8,910,000 after purchasing an additional 28,693 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 0.6% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 92,817 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $11,463,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 24.5% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 9,461 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,169,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 19.6% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 9,348 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter valued at about $744,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $93.53 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $113.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.46. 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 1-year low of $89.88 and a 1-year high of $135.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.19, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. Susquehanna downgraded NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total transaction of $1,045,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,375,824.46. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were 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 90 days, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.