Prudential PLC Sells 2,998 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Prudential PLC trimmed its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 96,471 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,998 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $10,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $458,060,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 94.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,823,292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $215,987,000 after acquiring an additional 886,485 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 71.6% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,849,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $219,058,000 after acquiring an additional 771,835 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $582,296,000 after acquiring an additional 718,409 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 83.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,544,513 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $164,568,000 after acquiring an additional 700,467 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wedbush upped their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities upped their target price on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $167.04 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $192.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $119.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $32.96 billion, a PE ratio of 26.26, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. Analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.70%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $33,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,800. This represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total value of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 18,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. The trade was a 5.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,500 shares of company stock valued at $386,145. Insiders own 0.28% 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.