NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Price Target Raised to $195.00

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its price target increased by Susquehanna from $185.00 to $195.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Evercore set a $210.00 target price on NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Wedbush raised their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Northland Securities increased their price objective on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Argus raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.07.

NetApp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $185.59 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $36.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s fifty day moving average is $178.73 and its 200 day moving average is $140.86. NetApp has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $209.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. Research analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is 29.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total value of $533,283.84. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth O’Callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,072 shares of company stock valued at $8,719,520. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Range Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 87.9% during the second quarter. Range Advisory LLC now owns 3,795 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in NetApp by 0.5% in the second quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 43,335 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,706,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in NetApp in the second quarter worth $1,300,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 15,681.5% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 48,620,175 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,524,458,000 after acquiring an additional 48,312,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenland Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $947,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting NetApp

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp reported record fiscal first-quarter results, with revenue rising 29.9% year over year to $2.03 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.58 per share, well above consensus estimates of $1.84 billion and approximately $2.13 per share. NTAP Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on Hybrid, Public Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS outlook to $9.73-$10.03 and forecast revenue of $7.975-$8.225 billion. Strong hybrid-cloud and public-cloud growth, all-flash storage demand and AI-related infrastructure upgrades are supporting the improved outlook. NetApp FY2027 Forecast and Raised EPS Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts largely raised their targets following the results. Goldman Sachs maintained a $210 target and TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating with a $200 target, while Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $191. NetApp also expanded its AWS relationship by enabling storage migrations to Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP through AWS Transform.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Citi downgraded the stock to Neutral with a $190 target, while Wedbush kept a Neutral rating despite raising its target to $170. The target changes suggest limited upside at current levels for some analysts.
• Negative Sentiment: The initial post-earnings selloff reflected a decline in free cash flow and management’s warning that second-quarter gross margin will decrease. Investors appear concerned that strong reported earnings and AI demand may not immediately translate into comparable cash generation.

About NetApp

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.