Portfolio Design Labs LLC Invests $838,000 in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Portfolio Design Labs LLC purchased a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,418 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $838,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 38.3% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $315,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 9.9% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,986,000 after acquiring an additional 4,232 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in NetApp by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 24,301 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,161 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,148,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $186,488.10. This represents a 17.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total transaction of $533,283.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 46,530 shares in the company, valued at $9,514,454.40. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 55,297 shares of company stock worth $8,758,016 in the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $192.81 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.48. The firm has a market cap of $37.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $209.06.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly 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). NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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 analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 32.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on NetApp from $150.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $173.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Northland Securities upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $177.25.

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.