NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $122.4167.

Several analysts recently weighed in on NTAP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on NetApp in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $128.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of NetApp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of NetApp in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,051,855.94. This represents a 4.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 3,000 shares of company stock worth $309,610 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NetApp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NTAP. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at about $458,060,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of NetApp by 103.6% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,783,103 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $211,226,000 after buying an additional 907,233 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in NetApp by 94.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,823,292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $215,987,000 after buying an additional 886,485 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in NetApp by 71.6% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,849,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $219,058,000 after buying an additional 771,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in NetApp by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,915,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $582,296,000 after buying an additional 718,409 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NetApp stock opened at $101.18 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $100.46 and a 200-day moving average of $109.33. NetApp has a 1-year low of $71.84 and a 1-year high of $126.66. 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 market cap of $19.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.39.

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

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 34.78%.

About NetApp

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.