Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 0.6%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) rose 0.6% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $284.88 and last traded at $282.91. Approximately 1,504,711 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 5,538,597 shares. The stock had previously closed at $281.14.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Piper Sandler cut Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $295.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $290.40. The company has a market cap of $89.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GSG Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 148.9% in the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 189,801 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $44,497,000 after acquiring an additional 113,534 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,104 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $32,143,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.