Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 82,639 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Hsbc Holdings PLC cut its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 936,340 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 82,639 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $144,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the third quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NTAP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $179.77.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total value of $193,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,872,164.54. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total transaction of $533,283.84. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 46,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,514,454.40. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,297 shares of company stock valued at $8,758,016. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NTAP opened at $187.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $36.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $209.06. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.41.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue 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. On average, analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.70%.

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.