NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Deepak Ahuja Sells 3,526 Shares of Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Deepak Ahuja sold 3,526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.04, for a total transaction of $684,185.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,155,866.56. The trade was a 17.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $191.49 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $183.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $146.09. NetApp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.69 and a 1-year high of $209.06. The company has a market cap of $37.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.01, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.44.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%.The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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, analysts anticipate that NetApp, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s payout ratio is 29.34%.

NetApp News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NetApp’s latest quarterly results showed substantial momentum: earnings per share of $2.58 exceeded the $2.12 consensus estimate, while revenue of approximately $2.02 billion surpassed expectations of $1.84 billion and increased nearly 30% year over year. The company also issued fiscal 2027 EPS guidance of $9.73 to $10.03.
• Positive Sentiment: An upbeat earnings-call outlook highlighted demand for AI-related infrastructure, cloud services and data management, reinforcing the investment case for NetApp’s growth.
• Positive Sentiment: NetApp announced a partnership with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, expanding its NFL sponsorship presence and promoting its data, analytics and cloud capabilities. The deal is primarily a branding initiative but could improve visibility with enterprise customers. NetApp and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Partner to Enable Data-Driven Operational Excellence
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive after the earnings report. Barclays raised its price target to $219 with an overweight rating, while Evercore set a $210 target. The broader consensus rating remains Hold, with an average target of $193.86.
• Positive Sentiment: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, equivalent to $2.08 annually and a yield of about 1.1%, providing continued shareholder income.
• Neutral Sentiment: NetApp’s strong stock performance has lifted its valuation to roughly 27 times earnings. Shares remain above both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, indicating strong momentum but also leaving less room for disappointment.
• Negative Sentiment: Several insiders sold shares, including CEO George Kurian, who sold 40,000 shares worth approximately $7.7 million, and Director Deepak Ahuja, who sold about $684,000. Additional executive and director sales were also reported. These transactions may create modest sentiment pressure, although the insiders retained significant holdings and the filings do not establish a bearish outlook.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 3.0% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. MRWM Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 1.8% in the first quarter. MRWM Advisors LLC now owns 6,794 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $696,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of NetApp by 2.4% in the first quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 5,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of NetApp by 7.1% during the first quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,175 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NTAP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush raised their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NetApp in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of NetApp from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.86.

About NetApp

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data infrastructure and cloud storage company that helps organizations manage, protect and access data across on-premises environments, private clouds and public clouds. Its offerings are designed to support enterprise workloads such as databases, business applications, artificial intelligence and virtualized computing.

The company’s portfolio includes all-flash and hybrid storage systems, cloud storage services, data management software and infrastructure-as-a-service solutions.