Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 1.9% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) rose 1.9% during trading on Monday after Mizuho raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $265.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $248.85 and last traded at $247.55. Approximately 8,714,993 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 9% from the average daily volume of 9,567,688 shares. The stock had previously closed at $242.83.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $220.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 11th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $217.59.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total value of $177,540.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 83,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,418,150.40. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora purchased 68,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at $50,434,276.78. This trade represents a 24.73% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

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

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.99. The company has a market cap of $202.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 136.77, a PEG ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 0.77.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal 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.