Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Overweight Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $223.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target suggests a potential upside of 10.46% from the stock’s current price. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Palo Alto Networks’ FY2025 earnings at $1.76 EPS.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.77.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $201.88 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $207.24. The company has a market capitalization of $132.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $186.78 and a 200-day moving average of $181.28.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.32). Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at $65,353,042.65. The trade was a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 834 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 251 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after buying an additional 129,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First United Bank & Trust raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 761.0% in the 3rd quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 1,016 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is 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.