Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 26,170 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Lazard Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 7.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 315,879 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 26,170 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned 0.16% of NetApp worth $32,343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its position in NetApp by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 32,197 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,297,000 after acquiring an additional 6,554 shares in the last quarter. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,107,000. Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $280,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 6.5% in the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,743,918 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $178,560,000 after purchasing an additional 106,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 138.1% during the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 36,883 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,776,000 after buying an additional 21,392 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $174.53 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $160.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.25 billion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $192.83.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. Analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 32.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NTAP. Citigroup increased their price objective on NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities boosted their target price on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings raised NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,800. This represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Company 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.