Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Raises Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 55.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,892 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,154 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at about $315,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,986,000 after buying an additional 4,232 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake 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 valued at $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 12.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP stock opened at $185.59 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $36.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $178.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $140.86. NetApp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $209.06.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. 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 predict that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.34 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 29.34%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total transaction of $533,283.84. Following the transaction, the president owned 46,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,514,454.40. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction of $193,820.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,872,164.54. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,072 shares of company stock valued at $8,719,520. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on NTAP shares. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group upped their target price on NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on NetApp from $173.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.07.

More NetApp News

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp reported record fiscal first-quarter results, with revenue rising 29.9% year over year to $2.03 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.58 per share, well above consensus estimates of $1.84 billion and approximately $2.13 per share. NTAP Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on Hybrid, Public Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS outlook to $9.73-$10.03 and forecast revenue of $7.975-$8.225 billion. Strong hybrid-cloud and public-cloud growth, all-flash storage demand and AI-related infrastructure upgrades are supporting the improved outlook. NetApp FY2027 Forecast and Raised EPS Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts largely raised their targets following the results. Goldman Sachs maintained a $210 target and TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating with a $200 target, while Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $191. NetApp also expanded its AWS relationship by enabling storage migrations to Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP through AWS Transform.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Citi downgraded the stock to Neutral with a $190 target, while Wedbush kept a Neutral rating despite raising its target to $170. The target changes suggest limited upside at current levels for some analysts.
• Negative Sentiment: The initial post-earnings selloff reflected a decline in free cash flow and management’s warning that second-quarter gross margin will decrease. Investors appear concerned that strong reported earnings and AI demand may not immediately translate into comparable cash generation.

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.