NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings cut NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on NetApp in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $128.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.42.

NetApp Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $95.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.02. The firm has a market cap of $18.92 billion, a PE ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.30. NetApp has a 12-month low of $80.22 and a 12-month high of $126.66.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The data storage provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 18.07% and a return on equity of 118.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. NetApp has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.210-2.310 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.920-8.020 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that NetApp will post 5.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.67, for a total value of $100,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,382 shares in the company, valued at $2,051,855.94. This trade represents a 4.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $309,610 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 432,772 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,266,000 after purchasing an additional 20,089 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of NetApp by 216.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 927,525 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $109,875,000 after purchasing an additional 634,085 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of NetApp by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 159,274 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $18,868,000 after purchasing an additional 32,833 shares during the last quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its position in shares of NetApp by 496.7% during the 3rd quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 18,168 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,152,000 after purchasing an additional 15,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in shares of NetApp by 515.1% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 115,757 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $13,713,000 after acquiring an additional 96,937 shares during the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently 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.