NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Shares Acquired by Compass Financial Management LLC

Compass Financial Management LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 776.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,776 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,345 shares during the quarter. Compass Financial Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,925,168,000. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter valued at $1,395,423,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 9.4% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,444,057 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $687,762,000 after buying an additional 383,701 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in NetApp by 127.0% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $374,549,000 after buying an additional 2,046,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the second quarter valued at $258,093,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Trading Down 9.7%

NetApp stock opened at $169.38 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $240.87. The stock has a market cap of $33.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.52.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 29.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of NetApp in a research note on Monday, October 26th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 31st. Finally, Loop Capital set a $300.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, Director Thomas Nevens sold 5,940 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.21, for a total value of $1,159,547.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,291.87. The trade was a 43.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.43, for a total transaction of $1,082,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,441,423.80. This represents a 42.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 173,524 shares of company stock worth $35,018,126 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc is a data infrastructure and cloud storage company that helps organizations manage, protect and access data across on-premises data centers, public clouds and hybrid environments. Its offerings support enterprise applications, artificial intelligence workloads, business analytics, backup and disaster recovery.

The company’s portfolio includes all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, the ONTAP data management operating system, StorageGRID object storage and Keystone storage-as-a-service.