Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $285.06 and last traded at $284.13. 3,400,498 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 5,726,015 shares. The stock had previously closed at $282.26.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $319.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $286.07. The stock has a market cap of $91.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.21.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total transaction of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,153 shares of company stock valued at $44,107,332 in the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $751,276,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $606,854,000 after purchasing an additional 2,050,917 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $204,728,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $771,643,000 after buying an additional 1,187,915 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after buying an additional 1,058,127 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.