Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Outperform Rating from Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reissued their outperform rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $450.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.6 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $383.36 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $260.09 and a 12 month high of $408.53. The stock has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $364.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $339.89.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is going to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly issued shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This represents a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $536,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,929,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11.0% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,468 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the period. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beck Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.6% during the first quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 16,142 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,586,000 after buying an additional 3,289 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.