Xponance Inc. Increases Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Xponance Inc. lifted its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 32.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 50,303 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,402 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $5,839,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in NetApp by 53.9% during the fourth 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. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 276.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $103,431,000 after purchasing an additional 654,626 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $64,683,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $738,280,000 after purchasing an additional 453,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,948,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $228,492,000 after purchasing an additional 397,871 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $93.53 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $113.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.46. The company has a market capitalization of $19.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $89.88 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 3.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759 in the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays decreased their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Northland Securities upped their target price on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

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.