NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Shares Acquired by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,743,918 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 106,589 shares during the period. NetApp accounts for 1.1% of Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.88% of NetApp worth $178,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $458,060,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,869,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 106.8% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,136,000 after buying an additional 135,715 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 180,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $19,374,000 after buying an additional 21,643 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its holdings in NetApp by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 97,086 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $10,397,000 after buying an additional 17,520 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $167.74 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $157.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.54. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.69 and a fifty-two week high of $192.83. The firm has a market cap of $32.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. NetApp’s revenue 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. Barclays lifted their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Susquehanna raised their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,488.10. This trade represents a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642 in the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.