American Century Companies Inc. Has $22.90 Million Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 204.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 197,240 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 132,370 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $22,896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 2.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 267,785 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,074,000 after acquiring an additional 5,636 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 66.5% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,989 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 3rd quarter valued at $205,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in NetApp by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 8,897 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in NetApp by 124.2% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 42,064 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,194,000 after buying an additional 23,305 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total transaction of $1,011,840.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,755,705.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of NetApp 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 30,931 shares of company stock worth $3,722,979. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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 report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on NetApp from $132.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup decreased their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $88.40 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $17.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $109.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.14 and a 1-year high of $135.45.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.