NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Jumps 7.5% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) shot up 7.5% during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock traded as high as $230.67 and last traded at $231.0750. Approximately 2,321,259 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 2,680,573 shares. The stock had previously closed at $215.05.

Key Stories Impacting NetApp

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp introduced Novus, an AI-factory storage architecture designed to deliver up to 100 terabytes per second of aggregate throughput and improve GPU utilization. The announcement strengthens the company’s positioning in large-scale AI workloads. NetApp introduces new architecture for AI factories
• Positive Sentiment: New collaborations with Supermicro and Oracle are broadening NetApp’s AI and cloud ecosystem. The planned Oracle Cloud Infrastructure-native managed storage service will use ONTAP capabilities to support enterprise and AI workloads, while the Supermicro relationship targets enterprise, neocloud and sovereign-AI deployments. NetApp AI infrastructure and cloud partnership expansion
• Positive Sentiment: NetApp’s latest quarter exceeded expectations, with revenue rising nearly 30% year over year to about $2.03 billion and EPS reaching $2.58 versus a $2.12 consensus estimate. Management also raised fiscal 2027 guidance to $7.975 billion–$8.225 billion in revenue and $9.73–$10.03 in non-GAAP EPS.
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target after the INSIGHT event, arguing that NetApp’s AI opportunity could support faster growth. Zacks also upgraded the stock to a Strong Buy, adding to bullish momentum. Bank of America raises NetApp target
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst opinions remain mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and several targets below the current market level, raising questions about near-term upside after the strong rally.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO George Kurian sold 50,000 shares for approximately $10.5 million in a disclosed, preplanned transaction. The sale reduces his ownership and follows additional insider selling, though its planned nature limits the bearish signal. NetApp CEO share sale

Analyst Ratings Changes

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Argus set a $225.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, September 11th. Northland Securities raised their price objective on shares of NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of NetApp from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.86.

NetApp Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $191.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.50, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.34%.

Insider Activity at NetApp

In related news, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $690,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,814 shares in the company, valued at $2,562,800. The trade was a 21.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Nevens sold 5,940 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.21, for a total transaction of $1,159,547.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,291.87. The trade was a 43.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 158,524 shares of company stock valued at $31,769,076 in the last 90 days. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the first quarter worth $31,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the second quarter worth $55,000. Compass Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at $70,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at $72,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NetApp Company Profile

NetApp, Inc develops intelligent data infrastructure and data management solutions for enterprises, service providers, and government organizations. The company helps customers store, manage, protect, and access data across on-premises environments, private clouds, public clouds, and hybrid multicloud infrastructures.

Its portfolio includes enterprise storage systems, all-flash arrays, cloud-connected storage, object storage, and data management software. NetApp’s offerings include the ONTAP data management operating system, AFF and ASA storage systems, StorageGRID object storage, and BlueXP, a platform designed to help customers manage data and storage resources across multiple environments.