Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 264 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,619 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $10,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $2,473,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $306,440,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 10,892 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,264,000 after purchasing an additional 2,485 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of NetApp by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 47,724 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 23,437 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,721,000 after purchasing an additional 5,156 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $88.40 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $109.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.26. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.70 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.52%.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,880,359.82. This represents a 9.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,931 shares of company stock valued at $3,722,979. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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 raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America raised shares of 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. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

NetApp Company 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.