Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 188,538 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its NetApp stake by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 188,538 shares and ending with 1,443,054 shares valued at about $154.5 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other large investors holding 92.17% of NetApp shares. Several firms, including Norges Bank and Arrowstreet Capital, also recently increased or initiated positions.
• NetApp recently reported Q4 EPS of $2.03, missing estimates, while revenue came in at $1.95 billion and rose 12.5% year over year. Analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with an average price target of $169.33.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,443,054 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 188,538 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.73% of NetApp worth $154,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $458,060,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of NetApp by 94.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,823,292 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $215,987,000 after purchasing an additional 886,485 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of NetApp by 71.6% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,849,218 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $219,058,000 after purchasing an additional 771,835 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 718,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 83.0% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $169.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at $2,164,112.86. This represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $130,800. The trade was a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,500 shares of company stock worth $386,145. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $167.04 on Friday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $192.83. 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 company's 50-day moving average is $119.80 and its 200 day moving average is $110.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. NetApp's quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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