NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group reduced its NetApp stake by 3.1% in the third quarter, selling 13,655 shares and retaining 427,726 shares worth approximately $89.9 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.17% of NetApp.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with NetApp carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $205.24. Evercore upgraded the stock to “outperform” with a $300 target.
• NetApp reported quarterly EPS of $2.58, exceeding estimates by $0.46, while revenue rose 29.9% year over year to $2.02 billion. The company also maintained a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, equivalent to a 1.1% yield.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 427,726 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 13,655 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of NetApp worth $89,857,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 1,433 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 204 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,719 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,540 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.42, for a total transaction of $237,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 29,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,060,158.54. This represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Nevens sold 5,940 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.21, for a total value of $1,159,547.40. Following the sale, the director owned 7,747 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,291.87. The trade was a 43.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 173,524 shares of company stock valued at $35,018,126 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NetApp from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Evercore raised shares of NetApp from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Argus set a $225.00 price objective on shares of NetApp and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $173.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.24.

NetApp Stock Down 7.0%

NTAP stock opened at $185.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.16. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $240.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $205.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.41. The firm has a market cap of $36.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. Research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is 29.34%.

NetApp Profile

NetApp, Inc is a data infrastructure and cloud storage company that helps organizations manage, protect and access data across on-premises data centers, public clouds and hybrid environments. Its offerings support enterprise applications, artificial intelligence workloads, business analytics, backup and disaster recovery.

The company's portfolio includes all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, the ONTAP data management operating system, StorageGRID object storage and Keystone storage-as-a-service.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NTAP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.