Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 197,922 Shares of NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) by 30.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 845,036 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 197,922 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in NetApp were worth $90,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of NetApp by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,192,354 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,091,499,000 after buying an additional 115,451 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in NetApp by 17.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $582,296,000 after acquiring an additional 718,409 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $458,060,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,127,533 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $442,018,000 after acquiring an additional 611,003 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 12.6% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,317,605 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $393,027,000 after acquiring an additional 370,405 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NTAP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $33,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $130,800. This trade represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,106,972 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NTAP opened at $154.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $93.69 and a twelve month high of $192.83. The company has a 50 day moving average of $142.29 and a 200-day moving average of $116.71. 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 return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. 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.