AlphaQuest LLC Increases Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 727.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,113 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,715 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $3,011,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in NetApp by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $582,296,000 after purchasing an additional 718,409 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in NetApp by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,317,605 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $393,027,000 after acquiring an additional 370,405 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in NetApp by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,903,077 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $343,899,000 after acquiring an additional 29,871 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in NetApp by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,091,817 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $247,795,000 after acquiring an additional 13,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 71.6% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,849,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $219,058,000 after acquiring an additional 771,835 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,800. This represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. This represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,275 shares of company stock worth $347,650. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $139.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.30, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average is $108.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.91. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $141.75.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.07% and a return on equity of 118.11%. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. 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 forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of NetApp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup cut shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to a “mixed” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.27.

About NetApp

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.