Aurora Investment Counsel Invests $2.34 Million in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Aurora Investment Counsel acquired a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 21,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,337,000. NetApp makes up about 1.2% of Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Horizon Investments LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 2,919 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of NetApp by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,083 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 350 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,694 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,608,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, EWA LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. EWA LLC now owns 2,535 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $270,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $117.24 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $117.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.13. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.84 and a 52 week high of $135.45. The stock has a market cap of $23.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The data storage provider reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by ($0.35). NetApp had a return on equity of 123.24% and a net margin of 17.77%.The company had revenue of $1.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. NetApp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.600-7.900 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 1.840-1.940 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 36.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.91, for a total transaction of $1,075,462.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 274,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,792,629.58. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 779 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.87, for a total value of $94,936.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,029 shares of company stock worth $2,444,194. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays upped their target price on NetApp from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Bank of America upped their target price on NetApp from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Northland Securities upped their target price on NetApp from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.40.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc provides cloud-led and data-centric services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It operates in two segments, Hybrid Cloud and Public Could. The company offers intelligent data management software, such as NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, NetApp SnapMirror Data Replication, NetApp SnapLock Data Compliance, and storage infrastructure solutions, including NetApp All-Flash FAS series, NetApp Fabric Attached Storage, NetApp E/EF series, and NetApp StorageGRID.