Schroder Investment Management Group Has $109.56 Million Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 940,475 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 210,746 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in NetApp were worth $109,556,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 429,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,261,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,267,357,000 after purchasing an additional 199,384 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 8.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,985,673 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $738,280,000 after purchasing an additional 453,324 shares in the last quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 2,887,795 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $335,215,000 after buying an additional 12,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $306,440,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America raised shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 target price (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total transaction of $1,011,840.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 266,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,755,705.60. This represents a 3.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.79, for a total transaction of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,931 shares of company stock valued at $3,722,979 in the last 90 days. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP opened at $88.40 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $109.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.26. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $86.95 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24.

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 paid 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 2.35%. NetApp’s dividend 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.