Amundi Buys 148,903 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Amundi lifted its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 13.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,264,803 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 148,903 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in NetApp were worth $129,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $458,060,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in NetApp by 127.0% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $374,549,000 after acquiring an additional 2,046,912 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in NetApp by 378.9% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,329,475 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $136,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,863 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 886,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $89,977,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Argus raised their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

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, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.92, for a total value of $170,920.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 31,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,283.24. This represents a 3.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Up 2.6%

NetApp stock opened at $178.50 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.94. 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 cap of $35.03 billion, a PE ratio of 28.07, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.69 and a fifty-two week high of $192.83.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.70%.

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.