Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $235.00 at Rosenblatt Securities

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price upped by equities research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $212.50 to $235.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ target price points to a potential upside of 19.65% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $222.50 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.34.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.3 %

PANW stock opened at $196.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $128.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.15, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $130.04 and a 12-month high of $207.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.69.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.0% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 295,050 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $53,687,000 after purchasing an additional 150,452 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.7% in the fourth quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc now owns 36,334 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,611,000 after acquiring an additional 16,451 shares during the period. Generali Investments Management Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,097,000. GM Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.7% in the fourth quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,370 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $977,000 after acquiring an additional 3,436 shares during the period. Finally, Investment House LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 119.9% during the fourth quarter. Investment House LLC now owns 3,750 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 2,045 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.