Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 5.8% Higher – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares were up 5.8% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $208.09 and last traded at $207.88. Approximately 11,619,122 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 22% from the average daily volume of 9,559,730 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Argus raised shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (down from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. New Street Research cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.64.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 5.8%

The company has a market cap of $169.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 114.85, a PEG ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $166.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,631,525. The trade was a 30.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 30,356 shares of company stock valued at $4,981,575 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.