Johnson Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,219 NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,219 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $498,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $458,060,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,869,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in NetApp by 106.8% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,136,000 after buying an additional 135,715 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of NetApp by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 180,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $19,374,000 after purchasing an additional 21,643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 97,086 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $10,397,000 after buying an additional 17,520 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price target on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on NetApp from $150.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $177.25.

NetApp Trading Down 5.0%

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $194.48 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $171.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $133.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $209.06. The company has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its 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). The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous 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, sell-side analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 32.70%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,488.10. This represents a 17.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 55,297 shares of company stock worth $8,758,016 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.