Wills Financial Group LLC Acquires 3,488 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Wills Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 27.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,161 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,488 shares during the quarter. Wills Financial Group LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $1,655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc bought a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 176.3% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.92, for a total value of $170,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,349,283.24. This trade represents a 3.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $33,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,800. This represents a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,642. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NTAP. Northland Securities boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup raised their target price on NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.33.

NetApp Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $164.64 on Friday. 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 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $192.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $156.99 and its 200 day moving average is $122.23.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.93 earnings per share. 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 expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. NetApp’s dividend 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.