Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 1.5% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price traded up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $185.84 and last traded at $182.12. 6,248,490 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 5% from the average session volume of 6,577,642 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on PANW. TD Cowen raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up previously from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.5%

The company has a market cap of $126.94 billion, a PE ratio of 115.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.52.

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

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares in the company, valued at $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 260,448 shares of company stock valued at $53,168,301. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $633,068,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $340,883,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $502,263,000 after buying an additional 1,282,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.