Advisors Asset Management Inc. Has $2.11 Million Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,171 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,272 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 276.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $103,431,000 after acquiring an additional 654,626 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at $64,683,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 8.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $738,280,000 after acquiring an additional 453,324 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,948,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $228,492,000 after acquiring an additional 397,871 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 926.1% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 283,674 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $35,022,000 after acquiring an additional 256,028 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $92.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $18.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $89.88 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.07.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued 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 2.25%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Loop Capital cut their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Susquehanna lowered NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. This trade represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 52,931 shares of company stock worth $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp 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.