Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 73,965 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 414,095 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 73,965 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.21% of NetApp worth $86,993,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,925,168,000. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the second quarter worth about $1,395,423,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 9.4% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,444,057 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $687,762,000 after purchasing an additional 383,701 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of NetApp by 127.0% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $374,549,000 after purchasing an additional 2,046,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in NetApp by 1.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,129,773 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $218,065,000 after purchasing an additional 30,559 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on NTAP shares. Argus set a $225.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Northland Securities raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of NetApp from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $213.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 sale, the director directly owned 6,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,441,423.80. This represents a 42.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,526 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.04, for a total transaction of $684,185.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,264 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,155,866.56. This trade represents a 17.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 173,524 shares of company stock worth $35,018,126 over the last quarter. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $203.80 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $201.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $163.26. The stock has a market cap of $40.03 billion, a PE ratio of 28.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $240.87.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. NetApp's quarterly revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $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. On average, equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. NetApp's payout ratio is presently 29.34%.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc develops intelligent data infrastructure and data management solutions for enterprises, service providers, and government organizations. The company helps customers store, manage, protect, and access data across on-premises environments, private clouds, public clouds, and hybrid multicloud infrastructures.

Its portfolio includes enterprise storage systems, all-flash arrays, cloud-connected storage, object storage, and data management software. NetApp's offerings include the ONTAP data management operating system, AFF and ASA storage systems, StorageGRID object storage, and BlueXP, a platform designed to help customers manage data and storage resources across multiple environments.

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