Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Sells 2,070 Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC reduced its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 25.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,097 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,070 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OV Management LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. OV Management LLC now owns 13,012 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,510,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 468,136 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $54,341,000 after buying an additional 34,520 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 27,335 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,173,000 after acquiring an additional 6,135 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 603,876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $70,098,000 after acquiring an additional 61,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. increased its position in NetApp by 202.6% during the fourth quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. now owns 2,657 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,779 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 451 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,402,063.95. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.15, for a total transaction of $1,775,594.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 11,928 shares in the company, valued at $1,075,309.20. This trade represents a 62.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,627 shares of company stock valued at $5,498,573 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 1.1 %

NTAP opened at $90.49 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $86.40 and a fifty-two week high of $135.45. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $107.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.63, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 38.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays decreased their price target on NetApp from $132.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.07.

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.