ING Groep NV Makes New $37.75 Million Investment in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

ING Groep NV purchased a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 352,498 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $37,749,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $458,060,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 94.6% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,823,292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $215,987,000 after acquiring an additional 886,485 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 71.6% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,849,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $219,058,000 after acquiring an additional 771,835 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 17.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $582,296,000 after acquiring an additional 718,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 83.0% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,544,513 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $164,568,000 after acquiring an additional 700,467 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total value of $38,495.25. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $186,488.10. The trade was a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total transaction of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. This trade 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on NTAP shares. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Argus lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.33.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $167.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $32.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $119.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.25. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $93.69 and a twelve month high of $192.83. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The business’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last 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. As a group, research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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

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.