NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Stock Position Lifted by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 17.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 219,650 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,280 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.11% of NetApp worth $23,522,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Rossby Financial LCC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 105.5% in the 3rd quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 224 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 176.3% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wedbush upped their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,800. The trade was a 20.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total value of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,164,112.86. The trade was a 5.16% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,500 shares of company stock valued at $285,475 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of NTAP opened at $160.66 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $123.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.45. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $192.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.39 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The firm 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 posted $1.93 earnings per share. NetApp’s quarterly revenue 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. Analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 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.