Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 1.6% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was up 1.6% during trading on Thursday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $305.00 to $330.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $283.15 and last traded at $281.85. Approximately 837,148 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 5,554,390 shares. The stock had previously closed at $277.33.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. Capital One Financial cut Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $751,276,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $606,854,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,917 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $204,728,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $771,643,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,915 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.4 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $297.44 and a 200-day moving average of $290.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.93, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS 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.