Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 1.9% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price rose 1.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $168.74 and last traded at $168.06. Approximately 7,946,977 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 11,226,102 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.93.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. New Street Research lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays set a $200.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $170.41 and a 200 day moving average of $189.74. The company has a market capitalization of $137.14 billion, a PE ratio of 92.85, a P/E/G ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 0.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,631,525. This trade represents a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Klingman & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the third quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $558,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% during the third quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. PTM Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the third quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% during the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.