J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Buys 23,214 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 108.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 44,542 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,214 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 549 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,906 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,597 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,880,359.82. This represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,075,309.20. The trade was a 62.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,676 shares of company stock valued at $4,400,146 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $81.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $95.52 and a 200-day moving average of $112.42. The company has a market cap of $16.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $71.84 and a one year high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Susquehanna lowered NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. 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 report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.07.

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.