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

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC reduced its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 25.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,097 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,070 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in NetApp by 1.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 429,343 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.0% during the 3rd 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 8.2% during 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 buying an additional 453,324 shares during the last quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $335,215,000 after buying an additional 12,919 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $306,440,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 target price for the company from $121.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com cut NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised NetApp to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.07.

NetApp Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $90.49 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $107.74 and its 200-day moving average is $116.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.31. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $86.40 and a 1 year high of $135.45. 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 19,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the president now owns 11,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,075,309.20. This trade represents a 62.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $52,672.29. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,627 shares of company stock worth $5,498,573 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Company 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.