Insider Selling: NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.43, for a total value of $1,082,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,441,423.80. This trade represents a 42.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

NetApp Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP traded up $4.68 on Tuesday, reaching $228.45. 2,842,584 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,700,326. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.87 billion, a PE ratio of 32.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.69 and a fifty-two week high of $231.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $193.77 and a 200 day moving average of $155.76.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 29.34%.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Compass Financial Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $70,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $72,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of several research reports. Loop Capital increased their target price on NetApp from $215.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Northland Securities upped their price target on NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on NetApp from $199.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on NetApp from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.53.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc develops intelligent data infrastructure and data management solutions for enterprises, service providers, and government organizations. The company helps customers store, manage, protect, and access data across on-premises environments, private clouds, public clouds, and hybrid multicloud infrastructures.

Its portfolio includes enterprise storage systems, all-flash arrays, cloud-connected storage, object storage, and data management software. NetApp’s offerings include the ONTAP data management operating system, AFF and ASA storage systems, StorageGRID object storage, and BlueXP, a platform designed to help customers manage data and storage resources across multiple environments.