Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 5% – What’s Next?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares traded up 5% on Monday . The company traded as high as $159.16 and last traded at $154.35. 12,170,916 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 15% from the average session volume of 10,564,966 shares. The stock had previously closed at $147.02.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PANW. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.95.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.2%

The firm has a market capitalization of $131.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average of $163.27 and a 200-day moving average of $186.72.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $146.87 per share, with a total value of $9,999,643.95. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,434,276.78. The trade was a 24.73% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 144,252 shares of company stock worth $26,947,635 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after buying an additional 2,065,776 shares during the period. Employees Provident Fund Board acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,542,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $502,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,738 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.