Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Has $7.18 Million Stake in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its NetApp stake by 133.6% in the fourth quarter, ending with 67,172 shares valued at about $7.18 million.
• Institutional ownership in NetApp remains very high at 92.17%, while several other large funds also increased their positions during recent quarters.
• Analysts are cautious on the stock overall: NetApp has a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $122.27, even as the company beat recent earnings estimates and continued paying a quarterly dividend.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) by 133.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,172 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 38,421 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans' holdings in NetApp were worth $7,175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $582,296,000 after buying an additional 718,409 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in NetApp by 12.6% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,317,605 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $393,027,000 after acquiring an additional 370,405 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in NetApp by 1.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,903,077 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $343,899,000 after acquiring an additional 29,871 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in NetApp by 0.6% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,091,817 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $247,795,000 after acquiring an additional 13,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 71.6% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,849,218 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $219,058,000 after acquiring an additional 771,835 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Citigroup lowered NetApp from a "neutral" rating to a "mixed" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered NetApp from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered NetApp from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $122.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total value of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,382 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. This trade represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $130,800. This trade represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,275 shares of company stock valued at $347,650. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $118.97 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $126.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $106.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.52. The firm has a market cap of $23.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.89, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.28.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.05. NetApp had a net margin of 18.07% and a return on equity of 118.11%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.91 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. NetApp has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.210-2.310 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.920-8.020 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 3rd were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.78%.

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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