NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Stock Sold by Kestra Investment Management LLC

Kestra Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 9,585 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $4,457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the third quarter worth about $742,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,396 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares during the period. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,175,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 43.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,361 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on NTAP. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 31st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of NetApp to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore raised shares of NetApp from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.24.

NetApp Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $176.07 on Tuesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $240.87. The stock has a market cap of $34.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.52. The business’s 50 day moving average is $203.98 and its 200 day moving average is $152.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%. NetApp’s revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.34%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.43, for a total transaction of $1,082,150.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,441,423.80. This represents a 42.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Nevens sold 5,940 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.21, for a total transaction of $1,159,547.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,747 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,291.87. This trade represents a 43.40% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 172,524 shares of company stock valued at $34,824,306 over the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Profile

NetApp, Inc develops data storage and data management technologies for businesses and other organizations. Its offerings support workloads across on-premises infrastructure, public cloud environments and hybrid settings, with services for storing, managing, protecting and moving data.

The company’s portfolio includes its ONTAP data management software, all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, object storage, and cloud storage and data services. NetApp also provides tools to help customers manage data across different environments and offers infrastructure through its Keystone storage-as-a-service model.

Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance, the company adopted the NetApp name in 2008.