Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Needham & Company LLC Analyst Says

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price hoisted by Needham & Company LLC from $385.00 to $450.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $364.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $339.89. The company has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a PE ratio of 49.92, a PEG ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are going to split before the market opens on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

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

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This represents a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.7% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 2,606 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $891,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,737 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $22,127,000 after acquiring an additional 5,133 shares in the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,827,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,152 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% in the third quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.