Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the forty brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and thirty-one have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $229.0872.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PANW. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $245.00 price target (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total transaction of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 356,409 shares in the company, valued at $77,675,777.46. This represents a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,547,000 after acquiring an additional 7,301 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% during the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,389,000 after acquiring an additional 8,282 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% during the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,219,000 after buying an additional 10,091 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after acquiring an additional 163,718 shares during the period. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of PANW stock opened at $176.20 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $187.34 and its 200 day moving average is $194.67.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.