NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Shares Sold by Kestra Investment Management LLC

Kestra Investment Management LLC decreased its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 31.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 9,585 shares during the quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth about $26,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in NetApp by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 204 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc bought a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in NetApp by 90.8% during the 3rd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas Nevens sold 5,940 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.21, for a total transaction of $1,159,547.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,291.87. This represents a 43.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 46,530 shares in the company, valued at $9,514,454.40. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 172,524 shares of company stock valued at $34,824,306. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Daiwa Securities Group upped their target price on NetApp from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Bank of America upped their target price on NetApp from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on NetApp from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of NetApp to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.24.

NetApp Trading Up 4.1%

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $176.07 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a PE ratio of 24.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $203.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.32. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $240.87.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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 forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.34%.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc develops data storage and data management technologies for businesses and other organizations. Its offerings support workloads across on-premises infrastructure, public cloud environments and hybrid settings, with services for storing, managing, protecting and moving data.

The company’s portfolio includes its ONTAP data management software, all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, object storage, and cloud storage and data services. NetApp also provides tools to help customers manage data across different environments and offers infrastructure through its Keystone storage-as-a-service model.

Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance, the company adopted the NetApp name in 2008.