NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) President Sells $7,658,016.48 in Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $152.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $29.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $115.41. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $192.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 32.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $458,060,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in NetApp by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $374,549,000 after acquiring an additional 2,046,912 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 378.9% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,329,475 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $136,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,863 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 94.6% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,823,292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $215,987,000 after purchasing an additional 886,485 shares during the period. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the first quarter worth $89,977,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.