Wall Street Zen Downgrades NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) to Buy

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded NetApp from “strong-buy” to “buy”, while the broader analyst picture remains mixed with an overall Hold consensus and a $169.33 average price target.
• NetApp reported Q4 earnings of $2.03 per share, missing estimates, but revenue came in above expectations at $1.95 billion and rose 12.5% year over year.
• Insider activity showed notable selling, including President Cesar Cernuda selling 49,464 shares, even as institutional investors continue to hold the vast majority of the stock.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on NTAP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wedbush lifted their target price on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded NetApp from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $169.33.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $168.87 on Monday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $148.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $118.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $33.09 billion, a PE ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $192.83.

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

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total transaction of $38,495.25. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $186,488.10. This represents a 17.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 51,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,010,722. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter worth $458,060,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,869,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 106.8% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $28,136,000 after purchasing an additional 135,715 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 180,917 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $19,374,000 after purchasing an additional 21,643 shares during the period. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $21,234,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Company Profile

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.

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