Cantor Fitzgerald Initiates Coverage on Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note issued on Thursday, StockNewsAPI reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $415.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 15.44% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.0 %

PANW stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $359.50. The stock had a trading volume of 1,081,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,938,040. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $233.81 and a 52 week high of $384.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.55, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $352.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $328.16.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 315,252 shares of company stock worth $107,138,877 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% during the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 109 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.