Sarasin & Partners LLP Takes $24.25 Million Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 226,486 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,254,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned about 0.11% of NetApp at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 1.5% during the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 6,084 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $721,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC KS lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 5.0% during the third quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC KS now owns 2,100 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.0% in the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 5,526 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $655,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 2.6% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,531 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in NetApp by 0.7% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,398 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,824,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $101.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $110.16. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.84 and a 12 month high of $126.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 118.11% and a net margin of 18.07%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.91 EPS. NetApp has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.210-2.310 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.920-8.020 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on NTAP. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on NetApp in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $128.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NetApp from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Northland Securities set a $137.00 target price on NetApp and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.42.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.67, for a total transaction of $100,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 20,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,051,855.94. This trade represents a 4.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,000 shares of company stock worth $309,610. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Company Profile

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.