Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Cut to $200.00 by Analysts at BTIG Research

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at BTIG Research from $248.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 20.99% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.38.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.1%

PANW opened at $165.30 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $144.15 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $183.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $192.74. The company has a market cap of $115.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total value of $23,177,738.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares in the company, valued at $62,878,351.95. This trade represents a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% 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. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares during the period. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $340,883,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $502,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282,738 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $430,755,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,145 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.