Robert W. Baird Boosts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $435.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective upped by Robert W. Baird from $425.00 to $435.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on PANW. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $432.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $304.00 to $291.00 in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $260.09 and a one year high of $408.53. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $364.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $339.63.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are set to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly issued shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after buying an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.