Recent Analysts’ Ratings Updates for Palo Alto Networks (PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) has recently received a number of price target changes and ratings updates:

• 5/18/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target lowered by analysts at Mizuho from $625.00 to $600.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 5/17/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at KeyCorp from $610.00 to $729.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 5/17/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target lowered by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. to $600.00.
• 5/17/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target lowered by analysts at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $605.00 to $587.00.
• 4/25/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $670.00 to $823.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/19/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at KeyCorp from $643.00 to $729.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 4/14/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Wedbush from $630.00 to $660.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 4/12/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from $650.00 to $700.00.
• 4/8/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at BTIG Research from $610.00 to $720.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 3/25/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $670.00 to $710.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 3/24/2022 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Truist Financial Co. from $600.00 to $675.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.

Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $3.35 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $435.25. 33,535 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,625,048. The company has a market capitalization of $42.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -91.82 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $572.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $541.25. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $331.82 and a 1 year high of $640.90.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 22nd. The network technology company reported ($0.64) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a negative net margin of 9.50% and a negative return on equity of 42.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 29.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.42) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post -1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 12,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $616.26, for a total value of $7,395,120.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 3,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $479.46, for a total value of $1,678,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 252,551 shares in the company, valued at $121,088,102.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 71,032 shares of company stock valued at $40,587,677 in the last 90 days. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Connors Investor Services Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. now owns 22,570 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $14,050,000 after acquiring an additional 3,535 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $415,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $260,000. Wall Street Access Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $240,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $538,000. 84.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; Panorama, a security management solution for the control of firewall appliances and software deployed on an end-customer's network and instances in public or private cloud environments, as a virtual or a physical appliance; and virtual system upgrades, which are available as extensions to the virtual system capacity that ships with physical appliances.

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