Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases 1,557 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Magnetar Financial LLC lifted its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 51.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,579 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,557 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in NetApp by 826.9% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP stock opened at $92.25 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $89.88 and a 1 year high of $135.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $112.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.08. The company has a market cap of $18.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays cut their target price on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, 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 transaction of $1,045,755.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,375,824.46. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $48,882.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.