NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on NTAP. TD Cowen lifted their target price on NetApp from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings raised NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised NetApp to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Daiwa Securities Group raised their price target on NetApp from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NetApp from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.24.

NetApp Stock Performance

NTAP opened at $183.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.69, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $203.79 and a 200 day moving average of $153.13. NetApp has a fifty-two week low of $93.69 and a fifty-two week high of $240.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.24.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. The business’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, sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $690,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,562,800. This trade represents a 21.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.04, for a total transaction of $2,100,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 208,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,801,111.48. The trade was a 4.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 172,524 shares of company stock worth $34,824,306. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in NetApp in the third quarter worth $20,129,000. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in NetApp by 529.7% during the third quarter. Private Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 40,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $8,490,000 after buying an additional 33,997 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in NetApp by 529.7% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,976 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,516,000 after acquiring an additional 10,074 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in NetApp during the third quarter valued at $357,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance increased its position in NetApp by 25.9% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 1,801 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc. develops data storage and data management technologies for businesses and other organizations. Its offerings support workloads across on-premises infrastructure, public cloud environments and hybrid settings, with services for storing, managing, protecting and moving data. The company’s portfolio includes its ONTAP data management software, all-flash and hybrid-flash storage systems, object storage, and cloud storage and data services. NetApp also provides tools to help customers manage data across different environments and offers infrastructure through its Keystone storage-as-a-service model.