Retireful LLC Takes Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Retireful LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 8,321 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,869,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $458,060,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in NetApp by 106.8% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,136,000 after purchasing an additional 135,715 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in NetApp by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 180,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $19,374,000 after purchasing an additional 21,643 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in NetApp by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 97,086 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $10,397,000 after purchasing an additional 17,520 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total transaction of $533,283.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 46,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,514,454.40. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s 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 owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,872,164.54. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 55,072 shares of company stock worth $8,719,520 in the last ninety days. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about NetApp

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp reported fiscal Q1 revenue of approximately $2.03 billion, up 30% year over year and well above the roughly $1.84 billion analyst estimate. Non-GAAP EPS was $2.58, beating the $2.12-$2.13 consensus and rising from $1.55 a year earlier. NetApp Surpasses Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its fiscal 2027 outlook to approximately $8.0-$8.2 billion in revenue and $9.73-$10.03 in EPS, above analysts’ prior expectations of about $7.5 billion and $8.68, respectively. Second-quarter guidance also exceeded consensus estimates. NetApp Earnings Report
• Positive Sentiment: Growth was broad-based: all-flash array revenue increased 47% to $1.309 billion, while public-cloud revenue rose 28% to $206 million. NetApp also announced the acquisition of AI data-infrastructure company DataPelago, supporting its exposure to AI and hybrid-cloud spending. NetApp Revenue Rises to Record Fiscal Q1
• Positive Sentiment: NetApp said its ONTAP solutions were validated for VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1, potentially improving its positioning in private-cloud deployments and enterprise data management. NetApp Supports VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst targets remain mixed, with a reported median of $170 and an average brokerage target near $179.77, suggesting the stock’s valuation and substantial recent gains had already priced in considerable optimism.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors appeared concerned about execution beneath the headline beat. Non-GAAP gross margin was 70.6%, product gross margin declined sequentially amid higher component costs and product mix changes, and free cash flow fell to $401 million as inventory increased.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider activity shows 16 open-market sales and no purchases over six months, including sales by President Cesar Cernuda. This may have added to profit-taking pressure, although insider sales do not necessarily indicate a change in business fundamentals.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $180.77 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $209.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.47 billion, a PE ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $177.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.96.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The company’s revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $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. On average, research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 32.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley raised NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $137.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $210.00 target price on NetApp in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $184.08.

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.