Axa S.A. Sells 363,414 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Axa S.A. trimmed its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 57.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 264,237 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 363,414 shares during the period. Axa S.A.’s holdings in NetApp were worth $28,154,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NTAP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,728,118 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,954,431,000 after purchasing an additional 686,188 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 16.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,112,316 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $756,665,000 after buying an additional 1,024,626 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in NetApp by 1.0% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,096,679 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $623,383,000 after buying an additional 72,223 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 18.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,546,548 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $311,529,000 after buying an additional 560,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in NetApp by 12.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,507,590 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $308,107,000 after acquiring an additional 384,362 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NTAP. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on NetApp from $125.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NetApp from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $124.07.

NetApp Stock Down 0.2%

NTAP opened at $117.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $114.74 and a 200-day moving average of $111.17. The company has a market capitalization of $23.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.42. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.84 and a fifty-two week high of $128.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.34.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The data storage provider reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.69 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 121.28%. The business’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.87 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.750-8.050 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.010-2.110 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 5.89 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 2nd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.00, for a total transaction of $119,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,692,732. This represents a 4.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,750 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.91, for a total transaction of $1,075,462.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 274,938 shares in the company, valued at $33,792,629.58. This trade represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 11,183 shares of company stock valued at $1,359,691 in the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc provides cloud-led and data-centric services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It operates in two segments, Hybrid Cloud and Public Could. The company offers intelligent data management software, such as NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, NetApp SnapMirror Data Replication, NetApp SnapLock Data Compliance, and storage infrastructure solutions, including NetApp All-Flash FAS series, NetApp Fabric Attached Storage, NetApp E/EF series, and NetApp StorageGRID.