NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Rating Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Zacks reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Wedbush boosted their target price on NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 31st. TD Cowen upped their price target on NetApp from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NetApp from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.24.

NetApp Stock Up 4.1%

NetApp stock opened at $183.12 on Tuesday. 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 has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $240.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $203.79 and its 200 day moving average is $153.13. The company has a market capitalization of $35.97 billion, a PE ratio of 25.83, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.52.

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

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. NetApp’s payout ratio is 29.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,526 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.04, for a total transaction of $684,185.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,264 shares in the company, valued at $3,155,866.56. This trade represents a 17.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Nevens sold 5,940 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.21, for a total transaction of $1,159,547.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,291.87. The trade was a 43.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 172,524 shares of company stock valued at $34,824,306. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in NetApp by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 1,433 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 56.9% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 204 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 71 West Capital Partners lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 5.5% in the third quarter. 71 West Capital Partners now owns 1,429 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 4.7% in the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,719 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 4.4% during the third quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,935 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

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.