Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 31,308 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 359,455 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,308 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $42,035,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 826.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp 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 transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,931 shares of company stock worth $6,252,759 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen cut their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America raised NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Down 3.0 %

NetApp stock opened at $88.40 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.25, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $109.82 and its 200 day moving average is $117.25. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.14 and a 12-month high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

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.