California State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

California State Teachers Retirement System reduced its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 308,083 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 8,441 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.16% of NetApp worth $31,545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of NetApp by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,192,354 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,091,499,000 after purchasing an additional 115,451 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $582,296,000 after purchasing an additional 718,409 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $458,060,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,127,533 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $442,018,000 after buying an additional 611,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in NetApp by 127.0% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $374,549,000 after buying an additional 2,046,912 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $178.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $192.83. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.94.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.93 EPS. 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, research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.70%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.92, for a total transaction of $170,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,283.24. This represents a 3.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.