CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Sells 5,896 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co decreased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 283,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 5,896 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in NetApp were worth $32,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,069,617,000 after acquiring an additional 429,343 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,123,228 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $362,544,000 after purchasing an additional 529,471 shares during the period. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. increased its holdings in NetApp by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 2,887,795 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $335,215,000 after purchasing an additional 12,919 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,440,000. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 729,394 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $82.61 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.84 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $16.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50 day moving average is $96.24 and its 200 day moving average is $112.86.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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 $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total value of $1,775,594.40. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,075,309.20. This trade represents a 62.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,282 shares in the company, valued at $33,375,824.46. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,176 shares of company stock valued at $5,445,901. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 target price (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.07.

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.