Rosenblatt Securities Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $235.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ target price indicates a potential upside of 29.65% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on PANW. UBS Group raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $181.26 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $178.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $185.29. The firm has a market cap of $120.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 102.12, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $142.01 and a 1 year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Grassi Investment Management lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 161.1% during the fourth quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 7,910 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,439,000 after purchasing an additional 4,880 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,258 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 103.0% in the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,751 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,774,000 after buying an additional 4,948 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.0% in the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 512 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $234,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.