Insider Selling: NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) EVP Sells 1,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• NetApp EVP Elizabeth O’Callahan sold 1,000 shares for $175,950 at an average price of $175.95, reducing her direct ownership by 3.29% to 29,423 shares.
• NetApp reported quarterly EPS of $2.58, beating analyst estimates of $2.12, 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; the company’s quarterly dividend is $0.52 per share.

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) EVP Elizabeth O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.95, for a total value of $175,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 29,423 shares in the company, valued at $5,176,976.85. The trade was a 3.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

NetApp Stock Performance

NetApp stock traded up $2.96 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $186.08. 1,430,345 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,977,188. The firm has a market cap of $36.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $203.90 and a 200 day moving average of $153.57. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $240.87.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $240.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on NetApp from $173.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on NetApp from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on NetApp from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.24.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in NetApp by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 9,415 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,978,000 after purchasing an additional 2,063 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in NetApp by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,393,982 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $713,008,000 after purchasing an additional 288,989 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 60,164 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $12,628,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Saranac Partners Ltd bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth about $344,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the third quarter valued at about $20,129,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc. develops data storage and data management technologies for businesses and other organizations. Its offerings support workloads across on-premises infrastructure, public cloud environments and hybrid settings, with services for storing, managing, protecting and moving data. The company's portfolio includes its ONTAP data management software, all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, object storage, and cloud storage and data services. NetApp also provides tools to help customers manage data across different environments and offers infrastructure through its Keystone storage-as-a-service model.

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.