Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Stock Price

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its price target hoisted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $191.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 4.49% from the stock’s current price.

NTAP has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup upped their price target on NetApp from $150.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research report on Thursday. Evercore set a $210.00 price target on NetApp in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $191.69.

NetApp Trading Up 1.1%

NetApp stock traded up $2.02 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $182.79. The stock had a trading volume of 2,292,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,689,781. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $177.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $139.96. NetApp has a twelve month low of $93.69 and a twelve month high of $209.06. 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 firm has a market cap of $35.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.23, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.44.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The company’s revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 9.730-10.030 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 2.540-2.640 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction of $193,820.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,872,164.54. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 2,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.48, for a total value of $533,283.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 46,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,514,454.40. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 55,072 shares of company stock valued at $8,719,520 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Range Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of NetApp by 87.9% in the 2nd quarter. Range Advisory LLC now owns 3,795 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NetApp by 0.5% in the second quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 43,335 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,706,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at about $1,300,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in NetApp by 15,681.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 48,620,175 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,524,458,000 after acquiring an additional 48,312,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenland Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $947,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about NetApp

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of approximately $2.03 billion, up 30% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $2.58, well above the roughly $2.12 analyst consensus. All-flash array revenue increased 47%, reflecting strong demand tied to artificial intelligence and hybrid-cloud infrastructure. NetApp Stock Tanks Despite Strong Q1 Earnings Print
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its fiscal 2027 outlook to approximately $8.0 billion-$8.2 billion in revenue and $9.73-$10.03 in EPS. Second-quarter guidance also exceeded Wall Street expectations, signaling continued demand and strong near-term operating momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Susquehanna raised its price target for NTAP from $185 to $195, implying additional potential upside, although the firm maintained a neutral rating.
• Positive Sentiment: NetApp and Amazon Web Services expanded their relationship: AWS Transform now supports migrations to Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, potentially making NetApp’s storage platform more attractive to enterprise customers. NetApp and AWS Accelerate Storage Migrations with AWS Transform
• Neutral Sentiment: NetApp declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, equivalent to an annualized yield of about 1.2%. The payment supports shareholder returns but is unlikely to drive the immediate trading move.
• Negative Sentiment: Free cash flow declined to about $401 million, while operating cash flow was approximately $503 million and inventory increased. Investors appear concerned that earnings growth is not converting into cash as efficiently as before. NetApp Sails Past Estimates but Tumbles on Free Cash Flow Decline
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted gross margin fell to 70.6%, with sequential product-margin pressure attributed to higher component costs and product mix. The deterioration raised concerns about profitability and execution despite the higher outlook.
• Negative Sentiment: With the stock near a 12-month high and valuation expectations elevated, traders appeared to “sell the news” after the results. Reports also noted that company insiders have recorded sales, but no open-market purchases, during the past six months.

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.