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

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities upped their target price on NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America increased their target price on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

NetApp Price Performance

NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $154.17 on Friday. NetApp has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $192.83. The firm has a market cap of $30.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.44.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NetApp will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated 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 $186,488.10. The trade was a 17.11% 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, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.48, for a total value of $163,480.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,279,913.56. The trade was a 3.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 52,964 shares of company stock valued at $8,106,972 over the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of NTAP. Park Square Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in NetApp in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 176.3% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 315 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

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.