Rosenblatt Securities Boosts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $250.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $225.00 to $250.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target suggests a potential upside of 23.21% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on PANW. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $225.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Twenty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.14.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $202.90 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $209.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.32. The firm has a market cap of $138.78 billion, a PE ratio of 126.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,629,805.65. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock worth $249,160,428. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,290,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after purchasing an additional 505,924 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,093,262,000 after purchasing an additional 169,055 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,532,902,000 after purchasing an additional 36,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,234,650,000 after buying an additional 2,134,735 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.