Rosenblatt Securities Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target lifted by Rosenblatt Securities from $345.00 to $390.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $391.92.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $392.89 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $258.17 and a twelve month high of $408.53. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $362.55 and its 200-day moving average is $338.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.19, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 25,490 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,243,000 after buying an additional 2,748 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 64.4% during the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,530 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $719,000 after acquiring an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $536,000. InterOcean Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.1% in the first quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 1,425 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.3% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 31,747 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $9,020,000 after purchasing an additional 14,328 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.