Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $230.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 25.34% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. UBS Group set a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.4%

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $183.50 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $144.15 and a twelve month high of $223.61. The company has a market capitalization of $127.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.14, a PEG ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $187.84 and its 200 day moving average is $194.88.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Steph & Co. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is 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.