NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Price Target Raised to $137.00 at Morgan Stanley

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its price target increased by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $88.00 to $137.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “underweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential downside of 3.79% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on NTAP. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Citigroup cut shares of NetApp from a “neutral” rating to a “mixed” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of NetApp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $124.09.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP opened at $142.40 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. NetApp has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $143.65. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.48. The stock has a market cap of $28.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.28.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). NetApp had a net margin of 18.07% and a return on equity of 118.11%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. NetApp’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, research analysts expect that NetApp will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.73, for a total transaction of $117,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,164,112.86. This represents a 5.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $33,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,800. This trade represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,275 shares of company stock valued at $347,650. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth about $14,869,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 432,772 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,266,000 after purchasing an additional 20,089 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in NetApp by 216.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 927,525 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $109,875,000 after purchasing an additional 634,085 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake in NetApp by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 159,274 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $18,868,000 after purchasing an additional 32,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in NetApp by 106.8% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,136,000 after purchasing an additional 135,715 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting NetApp

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp beat revenue expectations with $1.95 billion in quarterly sales, up 12.5% year over year, and management said execution remained strong. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: NetApp raised its FY2027 EPS guidance to $8.70-$9.00 and revenue guidance to $7.3 billion-$7.6 billion, both above consensus, which supports the longer-term outlook. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The board authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program and the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, both of which can help support the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America’s Wamsi Mohan reiterated a Hold rating but lifted his price target to $150, signaling improved confidence in the shares’ upside. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: NetApp’s Q4 EPS of $2.03 missed the consensus estimate of $2.27, which likely limited the stock’s reaction despite the revenue beat.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent earnings-call coverage highlighted record revenue and AI-related expansion efforts, but investors are still weighing valuation and margin concerns. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst commentary also pointed to valuation and margin headwinds, suggesting the market may be reluctant to bid the stock much higher after its recent run. Article Title

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.