Swedbank AB Acquires 15,301 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Swedbank AB lifted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 15.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 112,387 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,301 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned 0.06% of NetApp worth $11,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,869,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $458,060,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in NetApp by 106.8% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,136,000 after buying an additional 135,715 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its holdings in NetApp by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 180,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $19,374,000 after buying an additional 21,643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $21,234,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a 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 report on Friday, May 29th. Argus raised their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

NetApp Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ NTAP traded down $2.86 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $168.87. 3,302,832 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,894,544. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.46. The business’s 50 day moving average is $148.15 and its 200-day moving average is $118.63. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $192.83.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 32.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.48, for a total value of $163,480.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 32,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,279,913.56. The trade was a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 51,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,010,722 over the last quarter. Company 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.