Westpac Banking Corp Trims Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Westpac Banking Corp decreased its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 44,674 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,849 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $458,060,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in NetApp by 94.6% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,823,292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $215,987,000 after purchasing an additional 886,485 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in NetApp by 71.6% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,849,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $219,058,000 after purchasing an additional 771,835 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in NetApp by 17.1% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in NetApp by 83.0% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,544,513 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $164,568,000 after purchasing an additional 700,467 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley upped 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. Finally, Argus upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.33.

NetApp Price Performance

NetApp stock opened at $175.64 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $192.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $113.99 and a 200-day moving average of $108.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.45. 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 data 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). NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. NetApp’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 predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total value of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. This represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 3,275 shares of company stock valued at $347,650 over the last 90 days. 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.