Mizuho Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $230.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target boosted by research analysts at Mizuho from $220.00 to $230.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Mizuho’s price target points to a potential upside of 14.43% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Twenty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.14.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $201.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $137.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 125.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $209.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.42. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 17.66%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% in the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.