PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators Acquires Shares of 82,907 NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 82,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,879,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 38.3% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth about $315,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,986,000 after buying an additional 4,232 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of NetApp by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 24,301 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after buying an additional 1,662 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,161 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,148,000 after buying an additional 2,277 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $167.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $32.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $119.80 and its 200 day moving average is $110.25. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $192.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 32.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Northland Securities upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday. Argus upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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, Wedbush upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.33.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $130,800. This represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total transaction of $117,730.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at $2,164,112.86. This represents a 5.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,500 shares of company stock worth $386,145. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.