Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 1.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares rose 1.8% during trading on Friday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $390.00 to $421.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $378.33 and last traded at $375.92. Approximately 860,505 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 4,073,196 shares. The stock had previously closed at $369.40.

PANW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.28.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 269,866 shares of company stock valued at $88,620,447. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after buying an additional 198,078 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,502,000 after buying an additional 8,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $342.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $319.73. The stock has a market cap of $120.84 billion, a PE ratio of 54.24, a PEG ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.