Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Sells 45,704 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lowered its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 68,235 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 45,704 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in NetApp were worth $8,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 38.3% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $315,000. Boston Partners increased its position in NetApp by 108.9% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,947,200 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $313,997,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,339 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its holdings in NetApp by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 47,452 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,056,000 after purchasing an additional 15,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in NetApp by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 73,177 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,797,000 after purchasing an additional 5,954 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.67, for a total value of $100,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,051,855.94. The trade was a 4.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,000 shares of company stock worth $309,610. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $101.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.20. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.84 and a 12-month high of $126.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.05. NetApp had a return on equity of 118.11% and a net margin of 18.07%.The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.91 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. NetApp has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.210-2.310 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.920-8.020 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 34.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NTAP. Northland Securities set a $137.00 target price on shares of NetApp and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on NetApp from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.42.

About NetApp

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.