Anders Gustafsson Buys 2,800 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Anders Gustafsson acquired 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $91.00 per share, for a total transaction of $254,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $577,668. This trade represents a 78.92 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $89.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, 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 quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $108.45 and a 200 day moving average of $116.86. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.40 and a 52-week high of $135.45.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on NTAP. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (down from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.07.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,069,617,000 after buying an additional 429,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in NetApp by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,261,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,267,357,000 after acquiring an additional 199,384 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in NetApp by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $815,402,000 after purchasing an additional 888,671 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 8.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $738,280,000 after purchasing an additional 453,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,123,228 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $362,544,000 after purchasing an additional 529,471 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.