Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 0.3%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price traded up 0.3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $295.00 and last traded at $294.45. 875,918 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 5,471,983 shares. The stock had previously closed at $293.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $292.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.93 billion, a PE ratio of 46.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GSG Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 148.9% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 189,801 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $44,497,000 after purchasing an additional 113,534 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,104 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,143,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.