NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) CEO Sells $10,497,500.00 in Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) CEO George Kurian sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.95, for a total value of $10,497,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 218,537 shares in the company, valued at $45,881,843.15. This trade represents a 18.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

George Kurian also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 24th, George Kurian sold 37,000 shares of NetApp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.95, for a total value of $7,398,150.00.
• On Monday, September 21st, George Kurian sold 13,000 shares of NetApp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.01, for a total value of $2,600,130.00.
• On Monday, September 14th, George Kurian sold 40,000 shares of NetApp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.42, for a total value of $7,656,800.00.

NetApp Price Performance

NTAP stock opened at $226.27 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $192.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $154.54. The stock has a market cap of $44.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.46. NetApp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.69 and a fifty-two week high of $231.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. 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 research analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

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

NetApp News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp unveiled Novus, an AI-factory storage architecture designed to deliver up to 100 TB per second of aggregate throughput and improve GPU utilization. The announcement is strengthening expectations for demand from large-scale AI workloads. Why Is NetApp Stock Rocketing Higher Today
• Positive Sentiment: New collaborations with Supermicro and Oracle broaden NetApp’s AI and cloud ecosystem. The planned Oracle OCI-native managed-storage service is intended to support enterprise and AI workloads using NetApp’s ONTAP technology. NetApp AI infrastructure and cloud partnership expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and investor attention remains favorable after the earnings beat and higher guidance. Zacks also identifies NTAP as a top-rated stock trading near an all-time high, supporting momentum in the shares. Three buy-rated stocks eclipsing all-time highs
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views are mixed, with some raising targets on the AI opportunity while others remain cautious about valuation. The reported median target of $170 is below the current trading range, although several newer targets are higher.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO George Kurian sold 50,000 shares for approximately $10.5 million in a disclosed, preplanned transaction. The sale reduces his direct ownership by 18.6%, but its planned nature limits its bearish significance. NetApp CEO share sale

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,210,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the second quarter worth $1,571,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in NetApp in the 2nd quarter valued at $235,682,000. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp in the first quarter valued at about $1,107,000. Finally, Insight Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,845,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Loop Capital raised their price target on NetApp from $215.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Argus set a $225.00 price objective on NetApp in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.20.

About NetApp

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.