Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Now Covered by Analysts at Stephens

Stephens started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating and a $205.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.27.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $171.31 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $132.50 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $113.42 billion, a PE ratio of 96.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $187.01 and its 200-day moving average is $185.46.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 22,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after acquiring an additional 2,769 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 18,617 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,177,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Fire Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $255,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Objective Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.3% during the 4th quarter. Objective Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.