MUFG Securities EMEA plc Grows Stake in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

MUFG Securities EMEA plc increased its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 114.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,213 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,383 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc’s holdings in NetApp were worth $880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 38.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the second quarter worth about $315,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 9.9% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,986,000 after purchasing an additional 4,232 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of NetApp by 7.3% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 24,301 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 12.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,161 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,148,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities increased their price target on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total value of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,164,112.86. This trade represents a 5.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $130,800. The trade was a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 3,275 shares of company stock valued at $347,650 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $175.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $113.99 and a 200 day moving average of $108.41. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $192.83. The firm has a market cap of $34.66 billion, a PE ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 3.29 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 (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. NetApp’s quarterly 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. On average, research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. 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.