Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 456,364 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 21,040 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $46,727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,953 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in NetApp by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 12,559 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 833 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total transaction of $38,495.25. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $186,488.10. This trade represents a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.48, for a total transaction of $163,480.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,279,913.56. This trade represents a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 51,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,010,722 over the last quarter. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NTAP. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $168.87 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $148.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $93.69 and a one year high of $192.83.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.93 earnings per share. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 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 paid a $0.52 dividend. 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 currently 32.70%.

NetApp Profile

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.