NetApp, Inc. $NTAP Stock Position Reduced by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich

Key Points

• Bank Julius Baer cut its NetApp stake by 28.5% in the third quarter, selling 6,380 shares and retaining 16,026 shares valued at about $3.37 million.
• NetApp reported quarterly EPS of $2.58, beating the $2.12 analyst consensus, while revenue rose 29.9% year over year to $2.02 billion.
• Analysts give NetApp a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $205.24; company insiders sold 173,524 shares worth about $35 million in the last quarter.

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lowered its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,026 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 6,380 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich's holdings in NetApp were worth $3,366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $16,737,000. SFE Investment Counsel bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth about $205,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 37,618 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $7,903,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 76.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 11,318 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,378,000 after acquiring an additional 4,900 shares during the period. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.43, for a total value of $1,082,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,660 shares in the company, valued at $1,441,423.80. This represents a 42.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,450 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $690,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 12,814 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,562,800. The trade was a 21.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 173,524 shares of company stock worth $35,018,126 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

NetApp Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $190.78 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $240.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock's fifty day moving average is $205.11 and its 200-day moving average is $150.83.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. NetApp'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. Equities analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $173.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded NetApp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Northland Securities increased their price target on NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price target on NetApp from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Argus set a $225.00 price target on NetApp and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.24.

About NetApp

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.