NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Reaches New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Key Points

• NetApp shares reached a new 52-week high of $239.80, well above their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with an average price target of $213.20, though targets range from $170 to $300.
• NetApp reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, posting $2.58 in adjusted EPS on $2.02 billion in revenue, with revenue rising 29.9% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, equivalent to a $2.08 annual payout and a 0.9% yield. Meanwhile, insiders sold significant shares in recent months, including 50,000 shares sold by CEO George Kurian.

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $239.80 and last traded at $239.18, with a volume of 2,369,647 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $237.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of NetApp from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Argus set a $225.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Loop Capital set a $300.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $213.20.

NetApp Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $199.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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, research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. NetApp's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.34%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total transaction of $533,283.84. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 46,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,514,454.40. The trade was 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, CEO George Kurian sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.95, for a total transaction of $10,497,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 218,537 shares in the company, valued at $45,881,843.15. This represents a 18.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 172,524 shares of company stock valued at $34,780,706. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in NetApp in the second quarter worth $2,210,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,571,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $235,682,000. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,845,000. Finally, Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter valued at $1,107,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc develops intelligent data infrastructure and data management solutions for enterprises, service providers, and government organizations. The company helps customers store, manage, protect, and access data across on-premises environments, private clouds, public clouds, and hybrid multicloud infrastructures.

Its portfolio includes enterprise storage systems, all-flash arrays, cloud-connected storage, object storage, and data management software. NetApp's offerings include the ONTAP data management operating system, AFF and ASA storage systems, StorageGRID object storage, and BlueXP, a platform designed to help customers manage data and storage resources across multiple environments.

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