Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Coverage Initiated at Morgan Stanley

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $187.54 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $124.17 billion, a PE ratio of 105.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tradewinds LLC. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $728,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,220 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $852,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 928 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.