NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Holdings Increased by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 209,295 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,857 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $24,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,443,974 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,069,617,000 after buying an additional 429,343 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,024,456 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $815,402,000 after buying an additional 888,671 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in NetApp by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,123,228 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $362,544,000 after buying an additional 529,471 shares during the last quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. increased its holdings in NetApp by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 2,887,795 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $335,215,000 after buying an additional 12,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in NetApp by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,824,327 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $327,848,000 after buying an additional 550,607 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on NTAP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America upgraded NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Susquehanna downgraded NetApp from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $155.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.07.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP opened at $99.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $20.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.84 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 is $88.34 and its 200-day moving average is $108.81.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.52%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.04, for a total value of $1,011,840.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 266,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,755,705.60. This trade represents a 3.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total value of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at $1,075,309.20. This trade represents a 62.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,224 shares of company stock valued at $3,531,872 over the last ninety days. 0.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.