Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Lowers Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,283 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 4,550 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in NetApp by 276.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $103,431,000 after purchasing an additional 654,626 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at $64,683,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 453,324 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in NetApp by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,948,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $228,492,000 after acquiring an additional 397,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA boosted its holdings in NetApp by 926.1% during the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 283,674 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $35,022,000 after acquiring an additional 256,028 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the company’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 owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total transaction of $1,509,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 123,243 shares in the company, valued at $14,880,359.82. The trade was a 9.21 % 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 valued at $6,252,759 in the last three months. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $91.09 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $89.88 and a 12 month high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $110.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.41.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on NTAP shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Susquehanna downgraded NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

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.