Union Square Park Capital Management LLC Invests $1.34 Million in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Union Square Park Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 12,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,339,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,953 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of NetApp by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 12,559 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of NetApp by 0.7% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,398 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,824,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.33.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total transaction of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at $2,164,112.86. The trade was a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,800. The trade was a 20.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,500 shares of company stock valued at $448,955. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NTAP opened at $161.26 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $93.69 and a one year high of $192.83. The company has a market cap of $31.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.01.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. Research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 32.70%.

NetApp 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.