Short Interest in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Decreases By 21.8%

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 7,910,000 shares, a drop of 21.8% from the February 13th total of 10,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,830,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days. Currently, 3.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, CFO Michael J. Berry sold 12,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.74, for a total value of $1,509,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 123,243 shares in the company, valued at $14,880,359.82. The trade was a 9.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 52,931 shares of company stock worth $6,252,759. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DSG Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,385,000. 111 Capital acquired a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $475,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,936,000. AG Asset Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $587,000. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Trading Up 1.0 %

NTAP traded up $0.89 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $93.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 686,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,721,689. NetApp has a fifty-two week low of $89.88 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $18.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $113.94 and its 200-day moving average is $118.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price objective on NetApp from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

NetApp Company Profile

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.