Commerce Bank Takes Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Commerce Bank bought a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 60,789 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,408,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of NetApp by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 12,559 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 833 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised their price target on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley raised NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $173.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $177.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,488.10. This represents a 17.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,872,164.54. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 55,297 shares of company stock valued at $8,758,016 over the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $192.27 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.73 billion, a PE ratio of 30.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.45. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $209.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $172.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue 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 research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.