Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 77.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 75,047 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,745 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $8,711,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 196,726 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $22,836,000 after purchasing an additional 13,859 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 2,265 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,948,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $228,492,000 after buying an additional 397,871 shares during the period. Finally, Lifeworks Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 24,976 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,899,000 after buying an additional 3,522 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $90.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.89. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.08 and a 52-week high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.29, for a total transaction of $1,056,465.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 279,782 shares in the company, valued at $34,774,104.78. This trade represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $48,882.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,194,282. This represents a 3.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 61,431 shares of company stock valued at $7,309,224. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on NTAP. StockNews.com cut NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped 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. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.