Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $425.00 to $450.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, The Fly reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target points to a potential upside of 24.71% from the stock’s previous close.
Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, May 24th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $386.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, April 16th. Cowen started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $423.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. The company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $401.15.
Shares of PANW opened at $360.84 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $219.34 and a 1-year high of $403.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -79.13 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $353.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.
Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 19th. The network technology company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a negative net margin of 11.00% and a negative return on equity of 10.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post -1.55 earnings per share for the current year.
In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 3,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.49, for a total transaction of $1,198,715.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 292,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,273,194.73. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark D. Mclaughlin sold 1,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.85, for a total value of $491,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 59,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,405,441.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 40,615 shares of company stock valued at $13,911,529. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $670,667,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $358,841,000. Duquesne Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 457.8% during the 4th quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 459,060 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $163,145,000 after acquiring an additional 376,760 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at about $89,061,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,784,934 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $989,738,000 after acquiring an additional 208,986 shares during the last quarter. 82.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Palo Alto Networks Company Profile
Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity platform solutions worldwide. The company provides firewall appliances and software; Panorama, a security management solution for the control of appliances and software deployed on an end-customer's network as a virtual or a physical appliance; and virtual system upgrades, which are available as extensions to the virtual system capacity that ships with physical appliances.
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