Wills Financial Group LLC Buys Shares of 12,673 NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Key Points

• Wills Financial Group LLC opened a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter, buying 12,673 shares valued at about $1.36 million.
• Several other institutional investors also increased or initiated stakes in NetApp, and hedge funds and other institutions now own 92.17% of the company’s shares.
• NetApp reported Q4 EPS of $2.03, below estimates, but revenue of $1.95 billion beat expectations and rose 12.5% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, and analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold.

Wills Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 12,673 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,357,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Rossby Financial LCC increased its position in NetApp by 105.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 224 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 176.3% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total transaction of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. The trade was a 5.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total transaction of $38,495.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $186,488.10. This trade represents a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,500 shares of company stock worth $285,475. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $165.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company's fifty day moving average price is $122.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.14. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $192.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.33 billion, a PE ratio of 25.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The business's revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors 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 payout ratio is 32.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NetApp from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. 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 a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $169.33.

NetApp 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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