Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $250.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective hoisted by Wolfe Research from $225.00 to $250.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,MarketScreener reports. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on PANW. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 target price (up from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Tigress Financial initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.79.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $183.44 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $127.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.10, a PEG ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $202.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.45.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,228,330 shares of company stock worth $251,702,305. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% in the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.