NetApp Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:NTAP)

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders acquired 3,657 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 167% compared to the average daily volume of 1,369 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $128.00 price target for the company. Citigroup increased their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded NetApp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.25, for a total transaction of $96,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 19,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,865,517.50. This represents a 4.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,000 shares of company stock worth $300,370. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $458,060,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 378.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,329,475 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $136,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051,863 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 94.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,823,292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $215,987,000 after acquiring an additional 886,485 shares in the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $89,977,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 71.6% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,849,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $219,058,000 after acquiring an additional 771,835 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP traded up $1.08 during trading on Monday, reaching $119.08. 337,705 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,314,186. The company’s 50-day moving average is $102.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.38. The company has a market cap of $23.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. NetApp has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $126.66.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.05. NetApp had a return on equity of 118.11% and a net margin of 18.07%.The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. NetApp has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.210-2.310 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.920-8.020 EPS. Research analysts forecast that NetApp will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 3rd were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.78%.

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.