California Public Employees Retirement System Trims Stock Holdings in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 30.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 357,345 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 155,675 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in NetApp were worth $36,589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Park Square Financial Group LLC raised its position in NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the third quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in NetApp in the first quarter valued at $31,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on NTAP shares. Argus increased their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Susquehanna boosted their target price on NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities boosted their target price on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total value of $38,495.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,488.10. This trade represents a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,642 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NetApp Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $165.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $32.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $192.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $155.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.40. 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.93 EPS. NetApp’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 32.70%.

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.