Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives $226.20 Average Price Target from Analysts

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-one brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and thirty-one have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $227.9850.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Tigress Financial assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 356,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,675,777.46. This trade represents a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 261,248 shares of company stock valued at $53,316,149 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,589 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after purchasing an additional 505,924 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,093,262,000 after purchasing an additional 169,055 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,532,902,000 after buying an additional 36,511 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,177,765,000 after buying an additional 950,765 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $189.02 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $131.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $193.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.15. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61.

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

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.