Piper Sandler Boosts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $385.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price lifted by Piper Sandler from $330.00 to $385.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on PANW. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $414.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $387.00 to $449.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $370.00 price target (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $432.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.6 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $364.32 and a 200-day moving average of $339.89.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is going to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released 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. 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%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. 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.