Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Cuts Stake in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 19.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 457,445 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 109,038 shares during the quarter. NetApp accounts for approximately 1.2% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.23% of NetApp worth $70,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total transaction of $38,495.25. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $186,488.10. The trade was a 17.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 51,964 shares of company stock worth $8,063,912 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NetApp stock opened at $198.47 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 company has a market capitalization of $38.95 billion, a PE ratio of 31.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $167.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $129.41. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.69 and a fifty-two week high of $202.26.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share 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 last year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 32.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NTAP. Argus raised their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $172.33.

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.