NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Price Target Raised to $191.00

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its price target hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $191.00 in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore set a $210.00 price target on NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Northland Securities upped their target price on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.07.

NetApp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $185.59 on Thursday. NetApp has a twelve month low of $93.69 and a twelve month 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.44.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In related news, EVP Elizabeth O’Callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total value of $193,820.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,872,164.54. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total value of $533,283.84. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 46,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,514,454.40. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 55,072 shares of company stock worth $8,719,520. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in NetApp by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $315,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,792 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,986,000 after purchasing an additional 4,232 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 24,301 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of NetApp by 12.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,161 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,148,000 after buying an additional 2,277 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp News Roundup

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.