Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $222.50 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $188.50 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $130.04 and a 12-month high of $207.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.72.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 571,172 shares of company stock worth $107,074,352. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.