Insider Selling: NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) CEO Sells 37,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• CEO George Kurian sold 37,000 NetApp shares at an average price of $199.95, generating approximately $7.4 million; his direct holdings fell 12.11% to 268,537 shares. He also sold 13,000 shares on September 21 and 40,000 on September 14.
• NetApp shares rose 1.6% to $204.41, near the company’s 12-month high, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $2.58 and revenue of $2.02 billion—both ahead of analyst expectations.
• NetApp declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, equivalent to $2.08 annually and a 1.0% yield. Analysts’ average rating remains “Hold,” with an average price target of $193.86.

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) CEO George Kurian sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.95, for a total transaction of $7,398,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 268,537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $53,693,973.15. The trade was a 12.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

George Kurian also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, September 21st, George Kurian sold 13,000 shares of NetApp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.01, for a total transaction of $2,600,130.00.
• On Monday, September 14th, George Kurian sold 40,000 shares of NetApp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.42, for a total transaction of $7,656,800.00.

NetApp Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded up $3.26 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $204.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,946,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,682,226. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $209.06. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $187.90 and a 200-day moving average of $150.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.83, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.44.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,925,168,000. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter worth $1,395,423,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 9.4% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,444,057 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $687,762,000 after purchasing an additional 383,701 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter worth $458,060,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 127.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $374,549,000 after buying an additional 2,046,912 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NTAP shares. Wedbush upped their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on NetApp from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Argus set a $225.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, September 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $193.86.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc NASDAQ: NTAP is a data infrastructure and cloud storage company that helps organizations manage, protect and access data across on-premises environments, private clouds and public clouds. Its offerings are designed to support enterprise workloads such as databases, business applications, artificial intelligence and virtualized computing.

The company's portfolio includes all-flash and hybrid storage systems, cloud storage services, data management software and infrastructure-as-a-service solutions.

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