Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Rating Reiterated by JMP Securities

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at JMP Securities in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $300.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. JMP Securities’ target price suggests a potential upside of 21.17% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Truist Financial upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Bank of America lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Loop Capital increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.26.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.2 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $247.59 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.68, a PEG ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $244.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.71. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $132.22 and a 52 week high of $265.90.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 57.76% and a net margin of 8.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.75, for a total transaction of $170,696.75. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,017. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.75, for a total value of $170,696.75. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,017. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.04, for a total value of $10,891,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 177,213 shares in the company, valued at $42,892,634.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 176,890 shares of company stock worth $42,637,820. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73,750.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 20,399,618 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,212,306,000 after purchasing an additional 20,371,995 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $751,276,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 69.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,709,428 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,455,174,000 after acquiring an additional 2,332,827 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $204,728,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,343,304 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $854,248,000 after acquiring an additional 715,850 shares in the last quarter. 85.69% of the stock is currently 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.