Erste Asset Management GmbH Acquires Shares of 58,466 NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Erste Asset Management GmbH has acquired 58,466 shares of NetApp, Inc., valued at approximately $5.18 million, during the first quarter.
• Hedge funds and institutional investors now own 92.17% of NetApp's total stock, indicating strong institutional interest.
• NetApp recently posted a Q1 earnings per share (EPS) of $1.93, beating expectations and showcasing a year-over-year revenue increase of 3.8%.

Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 58,466 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,178,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NTAP. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,171 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 58,287 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $6,766,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 14,696 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,706,000 after acquiring an additional 2,339 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 176.9% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 15,499 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,799,000 after acquiring an additional 9,901 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.90, for a total value of $105,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,251 shares in the company, valued at $2,462,280.90. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,500 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.85, for a total value of $925,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 283,688 shares in the company, valued at $30,879,438.80. This represents a 2.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,802 shares of company stock worth $2,951,604 over the last quarter. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $108.42 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $71.84 and a one year high of $135.45. The company has a market cap of $21.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.25. The business's 50 day moving average price is $105.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.70.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. NetApp had a return on equity of 126.96% and a net margin of 18.05%.The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.80 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. NetApp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.600-7.900 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 1.480-1.580 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 36.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NTAP. Morgan Stanley restated a "cautious" rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $108.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $119.21.

NetApp Profile

NetApp, Inc provides cloud-led and data-centric services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It operates in two segments, Hybrid Cloud and Public Could. The company offers intelligent data management software, such as NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, NetApp SnapMirror Data Replication, NetApp SnapLock Data Compliance, and storage infrastructure solutions, including NetApp All-Flash FAS series, NetApp Fabric Attached Storage, NetApp E/EF series, and NetApp StorageGRID.

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