Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 353,276 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 55.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 288,618 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 353,276 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in NetApp were worth $60,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 3.6% in the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 1,433 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 56.9% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 204 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC grew its position in NetApp by 4.7% during the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,719 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC grew its position in NetApp by 4.4% during the third quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $407,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Ascent Group LLC grew its position in NetApp by 1.4% during the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 6,282 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,320,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,526 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.04, for a total value of $684,185.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,155,866.56. This trade represents a 17.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Nevens sold 5,940 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.21, for a total transaction of $1,159,547.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,747 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,291.87. This represents a 43.40% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 172,524 shares of company stock worth $34,824,306. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $176.07 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $34.58 billion, a PE ratio of 24.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.52. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $203.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.32. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $93.69 and a twelve month high of $240.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 29.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NTAP. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Northland Securities boosted their price target on NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on NetApp from $173.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital set a $300.00 price objective on NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.24.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc develops data storage and data management technologies for businesses and other organizations. Its offerings support workloads across on-premises infrastructure, public cloud environments and hybrid settings, with services for storing, managing, protecting and moving data.

The company’s portfolio includes its ONTAP data management software, all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, object storage, and cloud storage and data services. NetApp also provides tools to help customers manage data across different environments and offers infrastructure through its Keystone storage-as-a-service model.

Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance, the company adopted the NetApp name in 2008.