Wall Street Zen Upgrades NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) to Strong-Buy

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.33.

NetApp Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $166.54 on Tuesday. NetApp has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $192.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $156.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $121.82. The company has a market capitalization of $32.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.NetApp’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total value of $38,495.25. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,488.10. This trade represents a 17.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in NetApp by 38.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 759 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter worth $315,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 4,232 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia raised 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 acquiring an additional 1,662 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,161 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,148,000 after acquiring an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

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.