Prudential Financial Inc. Has $16.65 Million Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,418 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,330 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $16,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NTAP. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.03, for a total transaction of $1,045,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 271,282 shares in the company, valued at $33,375,824.46. The trade was a 3.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,931 shares of company stock valued at $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Stock Down 1.8 %

NTAP opened at $91.09 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $110.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $89.88 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $18.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.74, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 38.52%.

NetApp 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.