Insider Selling: NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Sells $1,082,150.00 in Stock

NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.43, for a total transaction of $1,082,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,441,423.80. This trade represents a 42.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

NetApp Trading Down 2.0%

NTAP opened at $231.05 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $197.24 and its 200-day moving average is $158.51. NetApp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.69 and a 52-week high of $238.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.46.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The data storage provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. NetApp had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 119.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders 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 of this dividend is Friday, October 9th. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.34%.

Key NetApp News

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades support the outlook. Evercore upgraded NetApp, while Loop Capital raised its price target from $215 to $260 and maintained a Buy rating. Analysts cited strong execution, AI-related storage demand and growth potential without requiring major new products. NetApp stock scores analyst upgrade to buy after big rally
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud partnerships could expand NetApp’s addressable market. AWS Transform now supports migrating NetApp ONTAP block-storage data directly to Amazon FSx alongside compute and networking workloads, potentially simplifying cloud adoption. NetApp also partnered with Oracle on a fully managed cloud-storage service. Can AWS Transform Make NetApp the Default Storage Landing Zone in the Cloud?
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals remain strong. NetApp’s latest reported quarter exceeded earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue up 29.9% year over year. AI-driven demand, all-flash storage growth and cloud expansion remain key parts of the bullish case.
• Neutral Sentiment: Dividend record date is approaching. NetApp declared a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, with a 0.9% indicated yield and an October 9 ex-dividend date. The payment may support income-oriented demand but is unlikely to materially change the growth-stock narrative.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and momentum risks are elevated. Commentary highlights a premium valuation, possible margin pressure and an RSI above 70, suggesting the stock may be overbought after its sharp advance. The average analyst price target of about $204.53 is below recent trading levels, adding to downside risk. NetApp up 147% in the past six months
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling adds a cautionary signal. Director Carrie Palin sold 5,000 shares, while CEO George Kurian reportedly sold 10,000 shares. These transactions do not necessarily indicate deteriorating fundamentals, but they can weigh on sentiment after a major rally.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NetApp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the first quarter worth about $31,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NetApp in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in NetApp in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in NetApp during the second quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in NetApp by 90.8% during the 3rd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 292 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on NTAP shares. Zacks Research raised NetApp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Bank of America increased their price target on NetApp from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on NetApp from $173.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Loop Capital set a $300.00 price objective on NetApp in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on NetApp from $185.00 to $195.00 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 given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.20.

NetApp Company Profile

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.