Cesar Cernuda Sells 49,464 Shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the president 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. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $0.97 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $154.59. 2,070,076 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,749,411. 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’s 50-day moving average is $135.40 and its 200-day moving average is $114.88. The stock has a market cap of $30.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.45. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $192.83.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 32.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Park Square Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 176.3% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities boosted their price target on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.