NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Has Average Target Price of $205.24

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment is moderately positive: 22 firms give NetApp an average “Moderate Buy” rating, with a mean 12-month price target of $205.24; recent target changes were mixed.
• NetApp beat quarterly expectations: It reported EPS of $2.58 versus $2.12 expected and revenue of $2.02 billion versus $1.84 billion expected, with revenue up 29.9% year over year.
• The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, equivalent to an annualized $2.08 and a 1.2% yield.

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $205.24.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NetApp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 31st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on NetApp from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on NetApp from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Northland Securities lifted their target price on NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on NetApp from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NTAP stock opened at $175.99 on Wednesday. NetApp has a one year low of $93.69 and a one year high of $240.87. The company's 50-day moving average is $203.79 and its 200 day moving average is $152.70. The company has a market capitalization of $34.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.24.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period 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. Sell-side analysts expect that NetApp will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.34%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $690,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,814 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,562,800. The trade was a 21.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.43, for a total value of $1,082,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,441,423.80. This trade represents a 42.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 172,524 shares of company stock valued at $34,824,306 over the last three months. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in NetApp by 529.7% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,976 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,516,000 after purchasing an additional 10,074 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at $357,000. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in NetApp by 25.9% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 1,801 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at $232,000. Finally, Composition Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 3rd quarter valued at $281,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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