Retireful LLC Takes Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Retireful LLC bought 8,321 NetApp shares worth approximately $1.29 million during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 92.17% of the company.
• NetApp reported a strong fiscal first quarter, with revenue up 29.9% year over year to $2.02 billion and EPS of $2.58, beating estimates. The company also raised its fiscal 2027 outlook and announced the acquisition of AI data-infrastructure firm DataPelago.
• Despite the earnings momentum, analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating, with an average price target of $184.08 versus the stock’s reported opening price of $180.77. NetApp also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, yielding about 1.2%.

Retireful LLC bought a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 8,321 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,288,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $10,582,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its position in NetApp by 12.9% during the second quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 13,957 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,160,000 after buying an additional 1,592 shares during the period. Railway Pension Investments Ltd grew its position in NetApp by 3.1% during the second quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 531,250 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $82,216,000 after buying an additional 16,100 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the second quarter valued at $4,764,000. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 81.8% in the second quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 4,993 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $773,000 after buying an additional 2,246 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded NetApp from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Northland Securities upped their price target on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Susquehanna increased their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $184.08.

NetApp Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ NTAP opened at $180.77 on Thursday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $177.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.96. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $209.06. The firm has a market cap of $35.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.44. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $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. Equities analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.70%.

Key Headlines Impacting NetApp

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp reported fiscal Q1 revenue of approximately $2.03 billion, up 30% year over year and well above the roughly $1.84 billion analyst estimate. Non-GAAP EPS was $2.58, beating the $2.12-$2.13 consensus and rising from $1.55 a year earlier. NetApp Surpasses Q1 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its fiscal 2027 outlook to approximately $8.0-$8.2 billion in revenue and $9.73-$10.03 in EPS, above analysts’ prior expectations of about $7.5 billion and $8.68, respectively. Second-quarter guidance also exceeded consensus estimates. NetApp Earnings Report
• Positive Sentiment: Growth was broad-based: all-flash array revenue increased 47% to $1.309 billion, while public-cloud revenue rose 28% to $206 million. NetApp also announced the acquisition of AI data-infrastructure company DataPelago, supporting its exposure to AI and hybrid-cloud spending. NetApp Revenue Rises to Record Fiscal Q1
• Positive Sentiment: NetApp said its ONTAP solutions were validated for VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1, potentially improving its positioning in private-cloud deployments and enterprise data management. NetApp Supports VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst targets remain mixed, with a reported median of $170 and an average brokerage target near $179.77, suggesting the stock’s valuation and substantial recent gains had already priced in considerable optimism.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors appeared concerned about execution beneath the headline beat. Non-GAAP gross margin was 70.6%, product gross margin declined sequentially amid higher component costs and product mix changes, and free cash flow fell to $401 million as inventory increased.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider activity shows 16 open-market sales and no purchases over six months, including sales by President Cesar Cernuda. This may have added to profit-taking pressure, although insider sales do not necessarily indicate a change in business fundamentals.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total value of $193,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,872,164.54. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,072 shares of company stock worth $8,719,520. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

About NetApp

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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