NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Shares Gap Up Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $111.48, but opened at $116.52. NetApp shares last traded at $107.6720, with a volume of 827,575 shares trading hands.

The data storage provider reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 123.24% and a net margin of 17.77%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.750-8.050 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.010-2.110 EPS.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 2nd. NetApp’s payout ratio is currently 36.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup dropped their price target on NetApp from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Northland Securities set a $137.00 target price on shares of NetApp and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $124.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO George Kurian sold 8,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.91, for a total transaction of $1,075,462.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 274,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,792,629.58. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 327 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.48, for a total value of $35,145.96. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 12,183 shares of company stock valued at $1,483,361 over the last quarter. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,675 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $554,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the third quarter valued at $3,272,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its stake in NetApp by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 114,483 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $13,562,000 after acquiring an additional 9,621 shares during the period. Caerus Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NetApp during the third quarter valued at approximately $374,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 92.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 480 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $21.29 billion, a PE ratio of 18.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $116.41 and its 200 day moving average is $110.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc provides cloud-led and data-centric services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It operates in two segments, Hybrid Cloud and Public Could. The company offers intelligent data management software, such as NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, NetApp SnapMirror Data Replication, NetApp SnapLock Data Compliance, and storage infrastructure solutions, including NetApp All-Flash FAS series, NetApp Fabric Attached Storage, NetApp E/EF series, and NetApp StorageGRID.