NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.33.

NetApp Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NTAP opened at $152.45 on Friday. 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 has a one year low of $93.69 and a one year high of $192.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $137.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.41.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that NetApp will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total transaction of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,164,112.86. This represents a 5.16% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,106,972 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of NetApp by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,192,354 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,091,499,000 after buying an additional 115,451 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in NetApp by 17.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $582,296,000 after acquiring an additional 718,409 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $458,060,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,127,533 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $442,018,000 after acquiring an additional 611,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in NetApp by 127.0% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,658,066 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $374,549,000 after acquiring an additional 2,046,912 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

About NetApp

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.