NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Holdings Lifted by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 449,130 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,847 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.23% of NetApp worth $94,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,925,168,000. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,395,423,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,444,057 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $687,762,000 after buying an additional 383,701 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 127.0% in 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 buying an additional 2,046,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 1.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,129,773 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $218,065,000 after acquiring an additional 30,559 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP stock traded down $4.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $181.37. The company had a trading volume of 1,675,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,903,723. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $35.62 billion, a PE ratio of 25.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.52. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $240.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $203.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.98.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on NTAP shares. Zacks Research downgraded NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 10th. Wedbush lifted their price target on NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on NetApp from $173.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on NetApp from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.95, for a total transaction of $10,497,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 218,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,881,843.15. This represents a 18.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,526 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.04, for a total value of $684,185.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,155,866.56. This trade represents a 17.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 173,524 shares of company stock valued at $35,000,256 in the last quarter. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc. develops data storage and data management technologies for businesses and other organizations. Its offerings support workloads across on-premises infrastructure, public cloud environments and hybrid settings, with services for storing, managing, protecting and moving data. The company’s portfolio includes its ONTAP data management software, all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, object storage, and cloud storage and data services. NetApp also provides tools to help customers manage data across different environments and offers infrastructure through its Keystone storage-as-a-service model.