NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

NTAP has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, September 4th. Citigroup cut their price objective on NetApp from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on NetApp from $180.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Wall Street Zen raised NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.07.

NetApp Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $183.60 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $181.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.50. NetApp has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $209.06. The company has a market capitalization of $36.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.24.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The company’s revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that NetApp will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total value of $533,283.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 46,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,514,454.40. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total value of $193,820.00. Following the sale, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,072 shares of company stock valued at $8,556,040. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 145.1% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 539,405 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $83,478,000 after buying an additional 319,332 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 165.3% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 11,300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,749,000 after acquiring an additional 7,041 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 179.8% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 19,686 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,047,000 after acquiring an additional 12,650 shares in the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $230,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter valued at about $286,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Key NetApp News

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Improved earnings outlook: Northland Securities retained an “Outperform” rating and raised its FY2027 EPS estimate to $8.14 from $7.11 and its FY2028 estimate to $9.15 from $7.85. It also increased estimates for several upcoming quarters, including Q2 2027 and Q3 2027. The firm’s price target is $187. Northland Securities estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Positive momentum and investor attention: Zacks added NTAP to its Rank #1 “Strong Buy” momentum list, while a separate Zacks report identified NetApp as a heavily watched stock. These designations may support near-term buying interest. Zacks momentum stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Strong operating performance: NetApp’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $2.58 versus the $2.12 consensus and revenue of $2.03 billion versus $1.84 billion expected. Revenue increased 29.9% year over year, and management provided FY2027 EPS guidance of $9.73–$10.03.
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation remains a consideration: Citi reiterated a Hold rating while maintaining a $190 target, acknowledging an attractive AI-driven growth outlook but viewing the shares as fairly valued. Citi NetApp rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data is unreliable: The report lists September short interest at zero shares and describes the change as “NaN,” making it unusable as a meaningful signal about short covering or bearish positioning.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data infrastructure and cloud storage company that helps organizations manage, protect and access data across on-premises environments, private clouds and public clouds. Its offerings are designed to support enterprise workloads such as databases, business applications, artificial intelligence and virtualized computing.

The company’s portfolio includes all-flash and hybrid storage systems, cloud storage services, data management software and infrastructure-as-a-service solutions.