Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 193,365 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 11.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,817,634 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 193,365 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $186,108,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Park Square Financial Group LLC grew its position 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wedbush raised their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup boosted their target price on NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP opened at $178.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.07. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $192.83. The company has a market capitalization of $35.03 billion, a PE ratio of 28.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced 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 net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. The company’s revenue 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. Research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued 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 1.2%. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 32.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $130,800. This represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the president directly owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.36% 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.