GSA Capital Partners LLP Takes Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners initiated a NetApp position of 15,158 shares valued at approximately $2.35 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.17% of the company, with several large funds increasing their holdings.
• Analysts raised their price targets substantially, but the overall consensus remains “Hold”, with an average target of $172.33 versus NetApp’s reported share price of $207.08.
• NetApp’s quarterly revenue rose 12.5% year over year to $1.95 billion, exceeding estimates, although EPS of $2.03 fell short of expectations. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, yielding about 1.0% annually.

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,158 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,346,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $458,060,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings 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. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 378.9% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,329,475 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $136,125,000 after buying an additional 1,051,863 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 94.6% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,823,292 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $215,987,000 after buying an additional 886,485 shares during the period. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB bought a new stake in NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at $89,977,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. Argus increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price 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. Citigroup raised their target price on NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $172.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $33,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,800. The trade was a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,257,732 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $207.08 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.56, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $169.53 and a 200 day moving average of $131.42. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $209.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.93 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, research analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. NetApp's payout ratio is currently 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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