8,318 Shares in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Purchased by Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC

Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,318 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $966,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $306,440,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $815,402,000 after buying an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its position in NetApp by 5,858.0% during the fourth quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $103,942,000 after buying an additional 880,406 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in NetApp by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,867,000 after acquiring an additional 729,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in NetApp by 276.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $103,431,000 after acquiring an additional 654,626 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at $1,075,309.20. The trade was a 62.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $48,882.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 37,224 shares of company stock worth $3,531,872. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna lowered shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, April 28th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.07.

NetApp Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $99.82 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.60. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.84 and a twelve month high of $135.45. 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 capitalization of $20.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

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.