Zacks Research Issues Positive Forecast for NetApp Earnings

Key Points

• Zacks Research has raised its Q2 2026 earnings per share estimate for NetApp to $1.49, up from a previous forecast of $1.44.
• The company's recent quarterly dividend announcement includes a payment of $0.52 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 1.6%.
• Multiple analysts have adjusted their price targets for NetApp, with a new average target of $124.07, indicating a strong interest in the stock's performance.

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Zacks Research increased their Q2 2026 EPS estimates for NetApp in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, September 17th. Zacks Research analyst Team now expects that the data storage provider will post earnings of $1.49 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $1.44. The consensus estimate for NetApp's current full-year earnings is $5.89 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for NetApp's Q1 2027 earnings at $1.45 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $1.71 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $1.89 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $6.81 EPS, Q1 2028 earnings at $1.73 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $7.87 EPS.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Argus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on NetApp from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $117.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $124.07.

NetApp Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP traded down $1.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $125.16. 7,250,396 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,221,680. NetApp has a twelve month low of $71.84 and a twelve month high of $135.45. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $111.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.31. The company has a market cap of $24.98 billion, a PE ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.46.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $471,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 555.1% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 80,879 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $8,618,000 after buying an additional 68,533 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in NetApp by 129.1% during the second quarter. Cypress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,834 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,048,000 after buying an additional 5,542 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in NetApp by 35.9% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 9,589 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,022,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,603,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O'callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.67, for a total value of $123,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 23,628 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,922,074.76. This represents a 4.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO George Kurian sold 8,750 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.91, for a total transaction of $1,075,462.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 274,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,792,629.58. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,750 shares of company stock valued at $3,255,778 in the last quarter. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. NetApp's payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

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.