Virtu Financial LLC Sells 13,203 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Virtu Financial LLC reduced its holdings in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 65.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,896 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 13,203 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NTAP. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 38.3% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the second quarter valued at $315,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in NetApp by 9.9% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,986,000 after buying an additional 4,232 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in NetApp by 7.3% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 24,301 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,589,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 12.7% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,161 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,148,000 after acquiring an additional 2,277 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total transaction of $38,495.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,488.10. The trade was a 17.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.48, for a total value of $163,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 32,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,279,913.56. This trade represents a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,500 shares of company stock valued at $448,955. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Five equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $158.31 on Tuesday. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.69 and a fifty-two week high of $192.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $31.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.44.

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). NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. NetApp’s 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. On average, analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

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.