Needham & Company LLC Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective raised by Needham & Company LLC from $385.00 to $450.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $390.00 to $430.00 in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock traded down $17.52 on Thursday, reaching $380.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,653,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,849,889. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $260.09 and a 52 week high of $408.53. The company has a market capitalization of $123.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $363.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $338.82.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are set 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 closing bell 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,149,000 after acquiring an additional 32,626 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $67,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,291 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $24,414,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 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.