Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 7% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price shot up 7% during trading on Thursday after BTIG Research raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $216.00. BTIG Research currently has a buy rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $199.09 and last traded at $196.53. 10,434,416 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 9% from the average session volume of 9,538,214 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.68.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on PANW. Berenberg Bank set a $215.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (down from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $146.87 per share, with a total value of $9,999,643.95. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer 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. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $1,415,364,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 7.0%

The company has a market capitalization of $160.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.58, a PEG ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $164.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.69.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

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.