Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 4.4% – What’s Next?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shot up 4.4% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $162.80 and last traded at $162.5330. 8,511,961 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 18% from the average session volume of 10,377,243 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on PANW. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Benchmark began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays set a $200.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.95.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.6%

The stock has a market cap of $131.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.28, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $160.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,103,105. The trade was a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $146.87 per share, with a total value of $9,999,643.95. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have sold 30,356 shares of company stock valued at $4,981,575 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,547,000 after purchasing an additional 7,301 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $75,412,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $136,859,000 after purchasing an additional 384,985 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $277,828,000 after purchasing an additional 8,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.