Morgan Stanley Begins Coverage on Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report released on Tuesday. The brokerage issued an overweight rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on PANW. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $184.01 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $132.50 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.67, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $186.41 and a 200-day moving average of $185.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,611,013,000 after acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after buying an additional 1,088,631 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.