Zacks Research Has Bullish Forecast for NetApp Q3 Earnings

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research boosted their Q3 2026 EPS estimates for NetApp in a research note issued on Tuesday, December 16th. Zacks Research analyst Team now anticipates that the data storage provider will post earnings per share of $1.67 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $1.64. The consensus estimate for NetApp’s current full-year earnings is $5.89 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for NetApp’s Q4 2026 earnings at $1.84 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $6.37 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $1.42 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $1.69 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $1.66 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $1.92 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $6.68 EPS, Q1 2028 earnings at $1.69 EPS, Q2 2028 earnings at $1.85 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $7.42 EPS.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley set a $117.00 price target on NetApp in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $125.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.07.

NetApp Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $110.50 on Friday. NetApp has a twelve month low of $71.84 and a twelve month high of $127.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.52. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $114.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.76. The firm has a market cap of $21.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.42.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The data storage provider reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 121.28%. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.87 earnings per share. NetApp has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.750-8.050 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.010-2.110 EPS.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 36.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.48, for a total value of $35,145.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.00, for a total transaction of $119,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,628 shares in the company, valued at $2,692,732. The trade was a 4.23% 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 2,433 shares of company stock worth $284,229. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,810,772 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $192,938,000 after purchasing an additional 66,045 shares in the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. purchased a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter valued at about $265,000. Aurora Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter worth about $2,337,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 1,081.8% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 292,756 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,193,000 after acquiring an additional 267,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 9.0% during the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 624,800 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $66,572,000 after acquiring an additional 51,400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc provides cloud-led and data-centric services to manage and share data on-premises, and private and public clouds worldwide. It operates in two segments, Hybrid Cloud and Public Could. The company offers intelligent data management software, such as NetApp ONTAP, NetApp Snapshot, NetApp SnapCenter Backup Management, NetApp SnapMirror Data Replication, NetApp SnapLock Data Compliance, and storage infrastructure solutions, including NetApp All-Flash FAS series, NetApp Fabric Attached Storage, NetApp E/EF series, and NetApp StorageGRID.