Brokerages Set Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) PT at $314.82

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty-nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $314.82.

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. Northland Securities cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GSG Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 148.9% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 189,801 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $44,497,000 after acquiring an additional 113,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,104 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,143,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $293.82 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $290.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.91, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $176.30 and a 12 month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.