NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as high as $209.28 and last traded at $209.0150, with a volume of 1316971 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $204.41.

Key NetApp News

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target after INSIGHT 2026, saying NetApp’s AI opportunity could support faster growth. Analysts also reacted favorably to the company’s new AI-factory architecture, which is designed to improve GPU utilization and provide up to 100 terabytes per second of aggregate throughput. Bank of America raises NetApp target after INSIGHT
• Positive Sentiment: NetApp’s partnerships with Oracle, SAP and Supermicro are expanding its reach in cloud, enterprise and AI infrastructure. The planned native Oracle Cloud Infrastructure storage service and jointly validated Supermicro AI systems could create additional channels for growth and recurring demand. NetApp and Oracle cloud storage partnership
• Positive Sentiment: New products, including NetApp Novus for large AI factories and Keystone Sovereign for European data-residency requirements, strengthen the company’s positioning in high-growth AI and regulated-cloud markets. NetApp Keystone Sovereign
• Neutral Sentiment: NetApp recognized its North American partners for fiscal 2026 contributions. The awards reinforce ecosystem relationships but are unlikely to materially affect near-term results. NetApp 2026 North America Partner Awards
• Negative Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha analysis maintained a cautious view, arguing that the risk-reward profile is less compelling after the stock’s strong advance. NetApp also faces margin pressure from higher NAND flash-memory costs; fiscal Q1 gross margin declined, and management guided to lower Q2 margins.
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Executive Officer George Kurtz reported a preplanned share sale. Because the transaction was scheduled in advance, it is not necessarily a signal of weakening fundamentals, but insider selling can limit enthusiasm at elevated valuation levels. NetApp CEO preplanned share sale

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NTAP. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective on NetApp from $199.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Susquehanna increased their price target on NetApp from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $194.86.

NetApp Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $190.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.21. The stock has a market cap of $41.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.95, for a total transaction of $7,398,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 268,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,693,973.15. This trade represents a 12.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 46,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,514,454.40. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 108,524 shares of company stock valued at $21,271,576. 0.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,925,168,000. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in NetApp during the second quarter worth approximately $1,395,423,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in NetApp by 127.0% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $374,549,000 after purchasing an additional 2,046,912 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in NetApp during the second quarter worth approximately $258,093,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in NetApp in the second quarter valued at $235,682,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc develops intelligent data infrastructure and data management solutions for enterprises, service providers, and government organizations. The company helps customers store, manage, protect, and access data across on-premises environments, private clouds, public clouds, and hybrid multicloud infrastructures.

Its portfolio includes enterprise storage systems, all-flash arrays, cloud-connected storage, object storage, and data management software. NetApp’s offerings include the ONTAP data management operating system, AFF and ASA storage systems, StorageGRID object storage, and BlueXP, a platform designed to help customers manage data and storage resources across multiple environments.