NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Lowered to “Buy” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on NTAP. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.33.

NetApp Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $173.23 on Wednesday. NetApp has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $192.83. The company has a market capitalization of $33.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $161.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). The company 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that NetApp will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 32.70%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.92, for a total value of $170,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,283.24. This trade represents a 3.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,642 over the last 90 days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in NetApp by 68.7% during the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of NetApp by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,953 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of NetApp by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 12,559 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 108 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.