Aviva PLC Lowers Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Aviva PLC lessened its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 60.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,568 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 189,865 shares during the period. Aviva PLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $14,692,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,069,617,000 after buying an additional 429,343 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $738,280,000 after acquiring an additional 453,324 shares during the period. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. increased its holdings in NetApp by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 2,887,795 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $335,215,000 after acquiring an additional 12,919 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $306,440,000. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in NetApp by 53.9% during the fourth 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barclays reduced their target price on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Susquehanna lowered NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Up 1.3 %

NTAP stock opened at $77.07 on Tuesday. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $71.84 and a one year high of $135.45. The firm has a market cap of $15.68 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $104.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $115.80. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total transaction 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 $14,880,359.82. This trade represents a 9.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,075,309.20. This represents a 62.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.