Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Overweight Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $445.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on PANW. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.6 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.92, a PEG ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $260.09 and a 1 year high of $408.53. The business has a 50-day moving average of $364.32 and a 200-day moving average of $339.89.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are set to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $757,321,000 after acquiring an additional 114,742 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by 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.