NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Position Boosted by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,818 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,303 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,881,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 826.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna cut shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $92.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.73 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $112.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.27. 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 twelve month low of $89.88 and a twelve month high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total value of $1,011,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,755,705.60. This trade represents a 3.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,194,282. The trade was a 3.93 % decrease in their position. 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 over the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.