Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 5% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price shot up 5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $159.16 and last traded at $154.35. 12,170,916 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 15% from the average session volume of 10,564,966 shares. The stock had previously closed at $147.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $125.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.28, a PEG ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.28.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the sale, the director owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 144,252 shares of company stock worth $26,947,635 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $675,865,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 87,031 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,810,000 after acquiring an additional 1,985 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.