Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Takes $1.67 Million Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 10,775 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,668,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Park Square Financial Group LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NTAP. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of NetApp 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 company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $177.25.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total transaction of $38,495.25. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $186,488.10. This represents a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the sale, the president owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,297 shares of company stock worth $8,758,016. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $192.81 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $209.06. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $172.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.48. The company has a market capitalization of $37.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.32, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. The business’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. As a group, equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 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.