NetApp’s (NTAP) Buy Rating Reiterated at TD Cowen

TD Cowen reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price target on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on NetApp from $199.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.07.

NetApp Trading Up 0.1%

NetApp stock opened at $185.59 on Thursday. NetApp has a 12-month low of $93.69 and a 12-month high of $209.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock 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. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.86.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company 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, equities research analysts expect that NetApp will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were 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 $9,514,454.40. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 30,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,872,164.54. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 55,072 shares of company stock worth $8,719,520. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

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

Key NetApp News

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.