Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $230.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 30.53% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $176.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.52, a PEG ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $187.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $194.67.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eagle Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $361,000. RMR Wealth Builders increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 14,829 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,495 shares during the last quarter. Anchyra Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,896,000. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 7,444 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 89,778 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $16,537,000 after purchasing an additional 8,631 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.