NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Holdings Lifted by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 543,091 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,591 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in NetApp were worth $63,042,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 10.0% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 22,941 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,088 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in NetApp by 13.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,206 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $519,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth about $331,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 49,378 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,099,000 after purchasing an additional 8,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 10,431.4% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,686 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 3,651 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $94.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $19.20 billion, a PE ratio of 17.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $111.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $117.77. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $89.88 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Susquehanna lowered NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total value of $2,529,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock worth $6,252,759 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

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.