Plato Investment Management Ltd Acquires New Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 10,209 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,571,000.

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

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction of $193,820.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,872,164.54. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 52,689 shares of company stock worth $8,224,732 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $204.20 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.07 billion, a PE ratio of 32.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $170.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $132.39. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $93.69 and a twelve month high of $209.06.

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 the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.93 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly 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. Equities research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 32.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $173.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.33.

NetApp 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.