Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their overweight rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $445.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $432.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $420.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 4.4 %

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $17.52 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $380.18. 1,653,304 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,849,889. The company’s 50 day moving average is $363.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $338.82. 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. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $260.09 and a twelve month high of $408.53.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are scheduled to split on the morning of 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks’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 earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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. Insiders have sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 32,626 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $67,232,000 after purchasing an additional 7,291 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth $24,414,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% during the second quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $914,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.