NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Stock: Royal Fund Management LLC Increases Holdings

Royal Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 34.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,497 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $2,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,925,168,000. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,395,423,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,444,057 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $687,762,000 after buying an additional 383,701 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 127.0% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $374,549,000 after buying an additional 2,046,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at approximately $258,093,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $2.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $215.48. 1,699,681 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,543,025. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $202.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $167.11. The company has a market cap of $42.32 billion, a PE ratio of 30.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.46. 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, 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 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 business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 29.34%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CEO George Kurian sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.04, for a total value of $2,100,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 208,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,801,111.48. This represents a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.43, for a total value of $1,082,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,441,423.80. This represents a 42.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 173,524 shares of company stock valued at $35,018,126 in the last 90 days. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Wedbush upped their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Argus set a $225.00 target price on NetApp in a report on Friday, September 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 5th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital set a $300.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.20.

NetApp Profile

NetApp, Inc is a data infrastructure and cloud storage company that helps organizations manage, protect and access data across on-premises data centers, public clouds and hybrid environments. Its offerings support enterprise applications, artificial intelligence workloads, business analytics, backup and disaster recovery.

The company’s portfolio includes all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, the ONTAP data management operating system, StorageGRID object storage and Keystone storage-as-a-service.