NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $122.6364.

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 19th. Citigroup downgraded shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to a “mixed” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of NetApp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total transaction of $117,730.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 18,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. This trade represents a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 3,000 shares of company stock worth $314,650 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 4.9% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 432,772 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $51,266,000 after buying an additional 20,089 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 216.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 927,525 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $109,875,000 after buying an additional 634,085 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 26.0% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 159,274 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $18,868,000 after buying an additional 32,833 shares during the period. Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the fourth quarter worth $21,234,000. Finally, J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 496.7% in the third quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 18,168 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,152,000 after buying an additional 15,123 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NTAP opened at $120.59 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.50. The company has a market capitalization of $23.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.36. NetApp has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $126.66.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.07% and a return on equity of 118.11%. NetApp’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.91 earnings per share. NetApp has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.210-2.310 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.920-8.020 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that NetApp will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.78%.

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.