NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $194.70 and last traded at $194.8720, with a volume of 932614 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $182.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on NetApp from $120.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on NetApp from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

NetApp Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $165.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.74. The company has a market cap of $37.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.94, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.45.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.NetApp’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business 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 analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.70%.

Insider Activity

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.92, for a total transaction of $170,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 31,297 shares in the company, valued at $5,349,283.24. This trade represents a 3.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $458,060,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted 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 purchasing an additional 2,046,912 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in NetApp during the second quarter worth $181,772,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 378.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,329,475 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $136,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 94.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,823,292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $215,987,000 after purchasing an additional 886,485 shares during the last quarter. 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.