Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 93,174 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 741.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 105,733 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 93,174 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in NetApp were worth $10,826,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,089 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 76.3% in the 1st quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 4,987 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $511,000 after buying an additional 2,158 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 20.6% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,018,979 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $104,279,000 after buying an additional 173,943 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 7,938 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forza Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,831 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,007,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 6.5%

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $174.55 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $192.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $150.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $119.52. The company has a market cap of $34.20 billion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. Research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.70%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,800. This represents a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,642. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities upped their price target on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

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.