Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 1.3%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 1.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $303.89 and last traded at $295.27. 1,415,187 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 5,371,817 shares. The stock had previously closed at $291.42.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Piper Sandler lowered Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Redburn Atlantic boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $94.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.85, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $286.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $292.81.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. On average, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 122,917 shares of company stock valued at $33,959,203. Insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GSG Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,478,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 148.9% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 189,801 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $44,497,000 after purchasing an additional 113,534 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,104 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $32,143,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.