Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Buys 2,442 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 75.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,697 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,442 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 826.9% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total value of $52,672.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,402,063.95. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total value of $1,045,755.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,375,824.46. This trade represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. StockNews.com cut shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America raised NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup decreased their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna downgraded shares of NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NTAP opened at $93.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.15, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $89.88 and a 52 week high of $135.45. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $114.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $118.83.

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 given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 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.