NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Shares Acquired by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems increased its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 124.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,138 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,594 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in NetApp were worth $2,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 68.7% during the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 3.0% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,953 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 12,559 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,800. This represents a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,642 over the last quarter. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $173.98 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $124.57. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $192.83. The firm has a market cap of $34.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 32.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on NTAP. Wedbush lifted their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.33.

NetApp Company 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.