NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Shares Bought by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors increased its NetApp stake by 1.5% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 2,129,773 shares worth about $218.1 million. Institutional investors overall still own a large majority of the company, at 92.17%.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: several firms raised price targets, but the stock’s consensus rating is still Hold with an average target of $169.33. Barclays and Goldman Sachs are among the more bullish voices, while Bank of America, UBS, and JPMorgan stayed neutral.
• NetApp reported quarterly earnings of $2.03 per share, missing estimates, even though revenue rose 12.5% year over year to $1.95 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, payable July 29, for an annualized yield of about 1.3%.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,129,773 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 30,559 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 1.08% of NetApp worth $218,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $458,060,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in NetApp by 378.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,329,475 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $136,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,863 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake 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 worth $215,987,000 after purchasing an additional 886,485 shares during the period. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $89,977,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Barclays raised their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $169.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $130,800. The trade was a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the sale, the president owned 46,806 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642 over the last quarter. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $164.64 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $156.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.23. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.69 and a fifty-two week high of $192.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.31 billion, a PE ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company 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. As a group, research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.70%.

NetApp Company 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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