Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Cuts Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 234,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 12,820 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.12% of NetApp worth $27,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of NetApp by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,794 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $395,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management lifted its stake in NetApp by 120.7% during the fourth quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 68,897 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,998,000 after purchasing an additional 37,684 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,346,212 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $156,268,000 after purchasing an additional 113,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,151,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.07.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 452 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.75, for a total value of $54,579.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,395,024.75. This trade represents a 3.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anders Gustafsson bought 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $91.00 per share, with a total value of $254,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 6,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $577,668. This trade represents a 78.92 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 37,676 shares of company stock valued at $3,586,451. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $93.44 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $88.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

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.