Cesar Cernuda Sells 49,464 Shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

NetApp Stock Down 1.4%

NTAP stock opened at $152.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $29.87 billion, a PE ratio of 23.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $137.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.41. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $192.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.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 previous year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Park Square Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc acquired a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in shares of NetApp in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on NTAP. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America boosted their price target on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

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.