JMP Securities Reiterates Market Outperform Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

JMP Securities reissued their market outperform rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $380.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on PANW. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Northland Securities lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $385.18 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.13, a PEG ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $234.15 and a fifty-two week high of $386.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $353.98 and a 200 day moving average of $331.32.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total transaction of $341,440.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.