Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Grows Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 98.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,996 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,700 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in NetApp were worth $9,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th 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 bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new position in NetApp during the first quarter worth about $31,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP opened at $154.17 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.69 and a fifty-two week high of $192.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $142.29 and a 200 day moving average of $116.71. 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 firm has a market cap of $30.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during 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%.The business’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $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. On average, research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Argus upped their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Susquehanna upped their target price on NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.48, for a total value of $163,480.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 32,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,279,913.56. The trade was a 3.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total value 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. The trade was a 17.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,106,972. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.