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

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 1.6% 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. 837,148 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 5,554,390 shares. The stock had previously closed at $277.33.

PANW has been the topic of several other reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Truist Financial increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $26,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,071.4% during the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.2 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $295.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.40. The firm has a market cap of $89.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. On average, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share 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.