Citigroup Boosts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $220.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective hoisted by research analysts at Citigroup from $205.00 to $220.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.06% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8 %

PANW opened at $189.55 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $132.50 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $186.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.12. The company has a market cap of $125.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after buying an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,324,387,000 after buying an additional 1,088,631 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.