Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 14,754 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 11.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 144,210 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,754 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in NetApp were worth $22,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in 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 period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Susquehanna increased their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $137.00 to $173.00 in a report on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $33,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,800. This trade represents a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,257,732 in the last ninety days. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Trading Up 1.8%

NTAP opened at $202.05 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $39.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.77, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.45. 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 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $202.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $168.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $130.13.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. The company’s revenue 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.