NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Shares Purchased by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 55.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,892 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,154 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC grew its position in NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in NetApp by 3.0% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 833 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, MRWM Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 1.8% during the first quarter. MRWM Advisors LLC now owns 6,794 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Up 0.1%

NTAP opened at $185.59 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.86. The company has a market cap of $36.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $93.69 and a one year high of $209.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.24.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%.The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 29.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NTAP. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $199.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Bank of America upped their price objective on NetApp from $180.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Evercore set a $210.00 price target on NetApp in a report on Monday, August 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.07.

NetApp News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp reported record fiscal first-quarter results, with revenue rising 29.9% year over year to $2.03 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.58 per share, well above consensus estimates of $1.84 billion and approximately $2.13 per share. NTAP Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on Hybrid, Public Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS outlook to $9.73-$10.03 and forecast revenue of $7.975-$8.225 billion. Strong hybrid-cloud and public-cloud growth, all-flash storage demand and AI-related infrastructure upgrades are supporting the improved outlook. NetApp FY2027 Forecast and Raised EPS Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts largely raised their targets following the results. Goldman Sachs maintained a $210 target and TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating with a $200 target, while Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $191. NetApp also expanded its AWS relationship by enabling storage migrations to Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP through AWS Transform.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Citi downgraded the stock to Neutral with a $190 target, while Wedbush kept a Neutral rating despite raising its target to $170. The target changes suggest limited upside at current levels for some analysts.
• Negative Sentiment: The initial post-earnings selloff reflected a decline in free cash flow and management’s warning that second-quarter gross margin will decrease. Investors appear concerned that strong reported earnings and AI demand may not immediately translate into comparable cash generation.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Elizabeth O’Callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction of $193,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,872,164.54. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total transaction of $533,283.84. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 46,530 shares in the company, valued at $9,514,454.40. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,072 shares of company stock valued at $8,719,520. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NetApp Company 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.