NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Given New $190.00 Price Target at Citigroup

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) had its target price decreased by equities researchers at Citigroup from $209.00 to $190.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target suggests a potential upside of 3.14% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on NetApp from $199.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America raised their price objective on NetApp from $180.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on NetApp from $173.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.07.

NetApp Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ NTAP traded up $3.44 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $184.21. 3,569,760 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,701,759. NetApp has a 52 week low of $93.69 and a 52 week high of $209.06. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $177.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.96. The company has a market cap of $36.15 billion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.44. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a return on equity of 117.23% and a net margin of 18.43%.The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NetApp will post 7.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NetApp

In other NetApp news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,872,164.54. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $9,514,454.40. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 55,072 shares of company stock valued at $8,719,520 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 15,681.5% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 48,620,175 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,524,458,000 after acquiring an additional 48,312,092 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the second quarter worth $2,925,168,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in NetApp by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,192,354 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,091,499,000 after purchasing an additional 115,451 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in NetApp during the second quarter valued at $1,395,423,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in NetApp by 17.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $582,296,000 after purchasing an additional 718,409 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting NetApp

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp reported fiscal Q1 FY2027 revenue of approximately $2.03 billion, up nearly 30% year over year and well above the roughly $1.84 billion consensus estimate. Non-GAAP EPS was $2.58, also comfortably ahead of expectations near $2.12. NetApp Stock Tanks Despite Strong Q1 Earnings Print
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its fiscal 2027 outlook to approximately $7.98 billion-$8.23 billion in revenue and $9.73-$10.03 in adjusted EPS. Second-quarter guidance also exceeds consensus, signaling continued demand from artificial intelligence, all-flash storage and hybrid-cloud customers. NetApp FY2027 Forecast and Raised EPS Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts lifted several price targets following the results. Morgan Stanley raised its target to $191, Susquehanna to $195, and Goldman Sachs maintained a $210 target and Buy rating, citing stronger guidance and cloud momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: NetApp announced that AWS Transform now supports migrations to Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, potentially making it easier for enterprises to move storage and database workloads to AWS. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, payable October 28.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst opinion remains mixed: Morgan Stanley and Susquehanna kept Equal Weight or Neutral ratings despite higher targets, while Wedbush raised its target only to $170, below the recent trading level.
• Negative Sentiment: The post-earnings selloff reflects weaker free cash flow and profitability concerns. Operating cash flow was about $503 million and free cash flow $401 million, while gross margin declined and management warned that second-quarter gross margin would fall sequentially as product mix and component costs pressure results. NetApp Earnings and Free Cash Flow Decline

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.