KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys Shares of 257,502 NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 257,502 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,891,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in NetApp by 4.8% in the fourth 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 during the period. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $395,000. AMJ Financial Wealth Management grew its position in NetApp by 120.7% in the fourth quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 68,897 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,998,000 after acquiring an additional 37,684 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in NetApp by 20.9% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 42,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,225,000 after acquiring an additional 7,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in NetApp by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,346,212 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $156,268,000 after acquiring an additional 113,360 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $92.25 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $112.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.07. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $89.88 and a 12-month high of $135.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.76 billion, a PE 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on NTAP. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America raised shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This trade represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 271,282 shares in the company, valued at $33,375,824.46. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock worth $6,252,759 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.