Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Makes New $78.32 Million Investment in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 506,055 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $78,317,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.26% of NetApp as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Argus increased their price objective on NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $177.25.

NetApp Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $204.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $40.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $171.00 and a 200-day moving average of $133.13. NetApp, Inc. has a one year low of $93.69 and a one year high of $209.06.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.70%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total value of $193,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,872,164.54. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 52,689 shares of company stock worth $8,224,732 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

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.