Nykredit A S Invests $10.58 Million in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 68,380 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,582,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,925,168,000. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter worth approximately $1,395,423,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $458,060,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in NetApp by 127.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at $258,093,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total value of $533,283.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 46,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,514,454.40. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 have sold 55,072 shares of company stock worth $8,719,520 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Key NetApp News

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.

NetApp Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $185.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The business’s 50 day moving average is $178.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $140.86. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $209.06. The firm has a market cap of $36.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $173.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.07.

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.