NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Tuesday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on NTAP. Barclays lifted 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.33.

NetApp Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $164.64 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $156.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.23. NetApp has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $192.83. The company has a market cap of $32.31 billion, a PE ratio of 25.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.NetApp’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.93 EPS. 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 predict that NetApp will post 7.16 EPS 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 paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.70%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.92, for a total transaction of $170,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 31,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,349,283.24. This trade represents a 3.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,642. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $458,060,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,869,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in NetApp by 106.8% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,136,000 after purchasing an additional 135,715 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its position in NetApp by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 180,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $19,374,000 after purchasing an additional 21,643 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in NetApp by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 97,086 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $10,397,000 after purchasing an additional 17,520 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

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.