Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Grows Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 18.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 132,741 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,400 shares during the quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in NetApp were worth $13,590,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,869,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $458,060,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 106.8% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,136,000 after acquiring an additional 135,715 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 180,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $19,374,000 after acquiring an additional 21,643 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $21,234,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of NetApp 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 transaction, the president directly owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total value of $38,495.25. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $186,488.10. This trade represents a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,642. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Argus lifted their target price on NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. 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 report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

NetApp Trading Up 6.5%

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $174.55 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $93.69 and a one year 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 company has a market capitalization of $34.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.52.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.70%.

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.