NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $201.32 and last traded at $200.7830, with a volume of 239311 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $189.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NTAP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $137.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Monday. Wedbush lifted their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on NetApp from $114.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NetApp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.33.

NetApp Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $166.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.96. The firm has a market cap of $39.08 billion, a PE ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.70%.

Insider Transactions at NetApp

In related news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 1,090 shares in the company, valued at $130,800. This trade represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 51,964 shares of company stock worth $8,063,912 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,869,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NetApp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $458,060,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 106.8% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 262,732 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,136,000 after acquiring an additional 135,715 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of NetApp by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 180,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $19,374,000 after acquiring an additional 21,643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of NetApp by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 97,086 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $10,397,000 after acquiring an additional 17,520 shares during the period. 92.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.