Horizon Investment Services LLC Sells 1,738 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Horizon Investment Services LLC decreased its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,245 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,738 shares during the period. NetApp makes up 1.3% of Horizon Investment Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Horizon Investment Services LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $3,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,069,617,000 after purchasing an additional 429,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in NetApp by 2.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,261,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,267,357,000 after buying an additional 199,384 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 8.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $738,280,000 after buying an additional 453,324 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $306,440,000. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in NetApp by 53.9% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,867,000 after acquiring an additional 729,394 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $88.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $109.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.23. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.14 and a 12-month high of $135.45. 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of NetApp 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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen cut their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

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.