Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Roth Capital

Roth Capital assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $210.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of several other reports. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.22.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $192.90 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $177.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.02. The company has a market capitalization of $127.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.68, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares in the company, valued at $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the 4th quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. 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.