Korea Investment CORP Acquires Shares of 114,372 NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Korea Investment CORP bought a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 114,372 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,700,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,925,168,000. State Street Corp raised its position in NetApp by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,192,354 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,091,499,000 after purchasing an additional 115,451 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in NetApp by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $582,296,000 after buying an additional 718,409 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $458,060,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,127,533 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $442,018,000 after buying an additional 611,003 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on NTAP. Citigroup lifted their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Argus lifted their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $177.25.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $192.27 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 stock has a market cap of $37.73 billion, a PE ratio of 30.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $172.93 and a 200-day moving average of $135.15. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $93.69 and a one year high of $209.06.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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, sell-side analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.70%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the president owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total value of $38,495.25. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $186,488.10. The trade was a 17.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 55,297 shares of company stock valued at $8,758,016 over the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.