Morningstar Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Morningstar Investment Management LLC boosted its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 138.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,455 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,225 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of NetApp by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,192,354 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,091,499,000 after acquiring an additional 115,451 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 17.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $582,296,000 after acquiring an additional 718,409 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $458,060,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,127,533 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $442,018,000 after purchasing an additional 611,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in NetApp by 127.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $374,549,000 after purchasing an additional 2,046,912 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. Wall Street Zen raised NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, 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. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

NetApp Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $167.74 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $192.83. The company has a market cap of $32.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $157.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.54.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results 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). 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 last 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 research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.70%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.92, for a total transaction of $170,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,349,283.24. The trade was a 3.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the business’s 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 owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp 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.