Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 4.3% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 4.3% during trading on Tuesday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $225.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $186.15 and last traded at $184.77. 2,460,327 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 6,106,095 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.11.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the 4th quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.81. The firm has a market cap of $123.17 billion, a PE ratio of 48.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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.