Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given a $225.00 Price Target at Sanford C. Bernstein

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) has been assigned a $225.00 target price by investment analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 20.48% from the company’s previous close.

PANW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. HSBC upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $186.75 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $178.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.25. The stock has a market cap of $123.65 billion, a PE ratio of 105.21, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 293,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,458,002.70. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Grassi Investment Management grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 161.1% during the 4th quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 7,910 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,439,000 after acquiring an additional 4,880 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,258 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,866 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 3,598 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.