Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives $201.40 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-three research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $201.46.

PANW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.2 %

PANW opened at $181.96 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $119.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.69, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $130.04 and a 12 month high of $207.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.57.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tradewinds LLC. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.