Rosenblatt Securities Cuts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $225.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective cut by equities research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $250.00 to $225.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 35.63% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. UBS Group set a $215.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.74.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $165.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.64, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The company’s fifty day moving average is $183.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.74.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $340,883,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $502,263,000 after buying an additional 1,282,738 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the 2nd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $430,755,000 after buying an additional 1,041,145 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.