NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $193.86.

Several research firms have commented on NTAP. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $173.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Argus set a $225.00 price target on NetApp in a research report on Friday, September 11th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $690,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 12,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,562,800. This represents a 21.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.74, for a total value of $184,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,678,353.38. This represents a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 71,524 shares of company stock worth $13,873,426. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in NetApp by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,480 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares during the period. Andra AP fonden boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 168.2% during the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 106,363 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $16,461,000 after buying an additional 66,711 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 145.1% during the second 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 during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 165.3% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 11,300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,749,000 after buying an additional 7,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 179.8% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 19,686 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,047,000 after buying an additional 12,650 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about NetApp

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp plans to acquire UK-based PEAK:AIO, whose metadata technology and high-performance parallel-file architecture are designed for large-scale AI workloads. The deal should expand NetApp’s AI infrastructure capabilities, complement its ONTAP platform and improve its ability to serve increasingly demanding data environments. Financial terms were not disclosed. NetApp plans to acquire AI storage firm PEAK:AIO
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are focusing on NetApp’s raised fiscal 2027 outlook, driven by record first-quarter revenue and strong AI and flash-storage demand. The company recently reported adjusted EPS of $2.58 versus a $2.12 consensus estimate and revenue of roughly $2.03 billion, up nearly 30% year over year. Can AI and Flash Demand Power NetApp’s Raised FY27 Outlook?
• Neutral Sentiment: NetApp’s valuation and analyst backdrop remain mixed. The consensus rating is “Hold,” although some firms have issued bullish ratings and price targets as high as $225. The stock’s rally may already reflect much of the recent earnings strength.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO George Kurian reportedly sold 13,000 shares, while Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,450 shares worth approximately $690,000. These transactions do not affect operations, but insider selling can temper investor sentiment after a substantial share-price advance. NetApp insider share sales

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $201.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $39.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.37, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.44. NetApp has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $209.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $150.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 29.34%.

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.