Korea Investment CORP Invests $17.70 Million in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Korea Investment CORP acquired a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 114,372 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,700,000. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.06% of NetApp as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Park Square Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in NetApp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,872,164.54. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 55,297 shares of company stock valued at $8,758,016 in the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $177.25.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $192.27 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $172.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.15. The company has a market capitalization of $37.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.23, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.45. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $209.06.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 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.