NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $233.72 and last traded at $233.1020, with a volume of 34238 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $228.45.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on NTAP. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of NetApp from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a report on Tuesday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $199.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded NetApp to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.20.

NetApp Trading Up 2.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $45.98 billion, a PE ratio of 33.15, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $194.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%.The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue 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. Analysts expect that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at NetApp

In other NetApp news, Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.43, for a total value of $1,082,150.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,441,423.80. This represents a 42.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,450 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $690,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,562,800. This represents a 21.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 173,524 shares of company stock worth $34,951,626. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Roble Belko & Company Inc acquired a new position in NetApp during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NetApp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in NetApp during the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of NetApp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Compass Financial Management LLC acquired a new position in NetApp in the second quarter worth $70,000. 92.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.