Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Invests $1.38 Million in NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 8,892 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,376,000.

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

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. 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 225 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total transaction of $38,495.25. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $186,488.10. This trade represents a 17.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 55,297 shares of company stock valued at $8,758,016 over the last 90 days. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on NTAP. Bank of America lifted their target price on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wedbush lifted their price objective 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.77.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $187.43 on Wednesday. NetApp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $209.06. The stock has a market cap of $36.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.47, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $173.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.