Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $190.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $207.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 9.93% from the stock’s previous close.

PANW has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $217.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.29.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $172.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $207.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.23.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during 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 revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.