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 disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund 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 quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $128,000. Compound Planning Inc. raised its holdings in NetApp by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 5,842 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $626,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in NetApp by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,170,157 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $339,492,000 after purchasing an additional 154,490 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in NetApp by 169.0% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 129,925 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $13,914,000 after purchasing an additional 81,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in NetApp by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 46,106 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,938,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total transaction of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. This represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,800. The trade was a 20.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 3,500 shares of company stock worth $448,955 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on NTAP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $169.33.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $158.31 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $133.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $114.30. NetApp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $192.83. The stock has a market cap of $31.02 billion, a PE ratio of 24.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.44. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share 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 last year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. The business’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. As a group, 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 paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.