Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Outperform Rating from Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reissued their outperform rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $450.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $416.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 4.4 %

PANW stock traded down $17.52 during trading on Thursday, hitting $380.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,653,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,849,889. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $363.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $338.82. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $260.09 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53. The company has a market cap of $123.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks shares are set to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,924.82. This trade represents a 27.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.