Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Sells 45,704 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd reduced its stake in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 40.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,235 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 45,704 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in NetApp were worth $8,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NetApp by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 432,772 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,266,000 after buying an additional 20,089 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in NetApp by 216.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 927,525 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $109,875,000 after buying an additional 634,085 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in NetApp by 26.0% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 159,274 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $18,868,000 after buying an additional 32,833 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in NetApp by 3.8% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,810,772 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $192,938,000 after buying an additional 66,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its position in NetApp by 496.7% during the third quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 18,168 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,152,000 after acquiring an additional 15,123 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $101.11 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.39. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $126.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $100.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.20.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.05. NetApp had a net margin of 18.07% and a return on equity of 118.11%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. NetApp has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.210-2.310 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.920-8.020 EPS. Analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.42.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.67, for a total value of $100,670.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 20,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,051,855.94. The trade was a 4.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $309,610 in the last 90 days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.