Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 0.6%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price was up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $284.88 and last traded at $282.91. Approximately 1,504,711 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 5,538,597 shares. The stock had previously closed at $281.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Piper Sandler downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.2 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $297.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $290.12. The company has a market capitalization of $89.79 billion, a PE ratio of 44.20, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. First Pacific Financial raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% during the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.