Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Boosts Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 367.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 930,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 731,553 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in NetApp were worth $95,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in NetApp by 38.3% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $315,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,986,000 after acquiring an additional 4,232 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 7.3% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 24,301 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 12.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,161 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,148,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.33.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total value of $38,495.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $186,488.10. The trade was a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.92, for a total value of $170,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,283.24. This trade represents a 3.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,642. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $167.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $32.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.46. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $192.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $157.95 and its 200 day moving average is $122.54.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 32.70%.

NetApp 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.