Moore Capital Management LP Purchases Shares of 55,000 NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)

Moore Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 55,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,384,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $306,440,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 5,858.0% in the fourth quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 895,435 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $103,942,000 after buying an additional 880,406 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,083,189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,867,000 after buying an additional 729,394 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 276.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 891,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $103,431,000 after buying an additional 654,626 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 528 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $48,882.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,194,282. The trade was a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $31,755,705.60. The trade was a 3.09% 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 worth $3,531,872 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 5.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $98.43 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $20.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $88.19 and its 200-day moving average is $108.87.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on NetApp from $153.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup cut their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.07.

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.