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

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $210.1860.

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group set a $183.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $200.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $162.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.73. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $132.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.03, a P/E/G ratio of 6.13 and a beta of 0.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Steph & Co. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.