NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Posted by Geri Gentry on Sep 11th, 2026

Zacks Research upgraded shares of NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP – Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday,Zacks reports.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on NTAP. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of NetApp from $160.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Argus raised their target price on shares of NetApp from $130.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Northland Securities lifted their target price on shares of NetApp from $171.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Wedbush upped their price target 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. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NetApp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.07.

Check Out Our Latest Report on NetApp

NetApp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NTAP opened at $183.60 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $181.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.16. NetApp has a 12 month low of $93.69 and a 12 month high of $209.06.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. NetApp had a return on equity of 119.13% and a net margin of 19.18%.The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, research analysts forecast that NetApp will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Elizabeth M. O’callahan sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.82, for a total transaction of $193,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,872,164.54. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of NetApp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the sale, the president directly owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at $7,246,504.92. This trade represents a 51.38% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,072 shares of company stock worth $8,556,040. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NetApp

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NetApp by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NetApp by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,540 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of NetApp by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 833 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, MRWM Advisors LLC increased its stake in NetApp by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. MRWM Advisors LLC now owns 6,794 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting NetApp

Here are the key news stories impacting NetApp this week:

Positive Sentiment: Improved earnings outlook: Northland Securities retained an “Outperform” rating and raised its FY2027 EPS estimate to $8.14 from $7.11 and its FY2028 estimate to $9.15 from $7.85. It also increased estimates for several upcoming quarters, including Q2 2027 and Q3 2027. The firm’s price target is $187. Northland Securities estimates
Positive Sentiment: Positive momentum and investor attention: Zacks added NTAP to its Rank #1 “Strong Buy” momentum list, while a separate Zacks report identified NetApp as a heavily watched stock. These designations may support near-term buying interest. Zacks momentum stocks
Positive Sentiment: Strong operating performance: NetApp’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with EPS of $2.58 versus the $2.12 consensus and revenue of $2.03 billion versus $1.84 billion expected. Revenue increased 29.9% year over year, and management provided FY2027 EPS guidance of $9.73–$10.03.
Neutral Sentiment: Valuation remains a consideration: Citi reiterated a Hold rating while maintaining a $190 target, acknowledging an attractive AI-driven growth outlook but viewing the shares as fairly valued. Citi NetApp rating
Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data is unreliable: The report lists September short interest at zero shares and describes the change as “NaN,” making it unusable as a meaningful signal about short covering or bearish positioning.

About NetApp

(Get Free Report)

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.