Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Increases Position in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 138,480 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,180 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $14,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Rossby Financial LCC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 105.5% in the 3rd quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 224 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th 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. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Trading Up 2.0%

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $170.31 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $33.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $121.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.73. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $192.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The company’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.14 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup upped their price objective on NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 19th. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

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 on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total value of $117,730.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. This represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,500 shares of company stock worth $285,475. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

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.