Sentry Investment Management LLC Trims Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Sentry Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 783 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 128 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $91,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in NetApp by 2,833.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 352 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total transaction of $1,056,465.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,774,104.78. The trade was a 2.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,903 shares of company stock worth $7,260,341 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on NTAP. Bank of America raised shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Susquehanna downgraded shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.33.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $124.49 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $120.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.04. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $86.43 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.31 billion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.23.

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.