37,165 Shares in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Bought by Generali Asset Management SPA SGR

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 37,165 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,314,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted 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 during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares in the company, valued at $1,402,063.95. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.99, for a total transaction of $2,529,780.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 27,099 shares in the company, valued at $3,116,114.01. This represents a 44.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,931 shares of company stock worth $6,252,759. 0.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $92.26 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $113.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.63. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $89.88 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 38.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on NTAP. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $110.00 price target (down previously from $120.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of NetApp from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.07.

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.