NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Stock: Bahl & Gaynor LLC Cuts Position

Bahl & Gaynor LLC lowered its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 44.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 179,579 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 143,279 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $37,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Moneco Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth $226,000. Lido Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 17.6% during the third quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 9,817 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 1,470 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 5.0% during the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 22,581 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,744,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. 71 West Capital Partners raised its position in shares of NetApp by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. 71 West Capital Partners now owns 1,429 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth about $742,000. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 0.0%

NetApp stock opened at $175.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $34.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.52. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.70. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $240.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue 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. Equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 29.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp 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 transaction, the director owned 7,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,291.87. This represents a 43.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,526 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.04, for a total transaction of $684,185.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,155,866.56. The trade was a 17.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 172,524 shares of company stock worth $34,824,306. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Northland Securities raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital set a $300.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.24.

NetApp Profile

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.