NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $194.70 and last traded at $194.8720, with a volume of 932614 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $182.92.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on NTAP. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of NetApp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings raised NetApp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on NetApp from $88.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NetApp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.33.

NetApp Trading Up 4.1%

The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.60.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.93 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.70%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $33,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $130,800. This trade represents a 20.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total value of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 46,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. The trade was a 51.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 52,964 shares of company stock worth $8,181,642. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NTAP. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of NetApp in the second quarter valued at about $2,210,000. Plan Group Financial LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth about $386,000. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in NetApp during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,845,000. Tema ETFs LLC increased its position in NetApp by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 3,977 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB increased its position in NetApp by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 9,283 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,437,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.