Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 47 brokerages, with 36 buy ratings and an average 1-year price target of about $211.64.
• Several analysts recently cut price targets on PANW, including Susquehanna, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and HSBC, though most maintained bullish or positive ratings.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $1.03 beating estimates and revenue of $2.59 billion slightly above expectations, while insiders have been selling shares in recent months.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the forty-seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-six have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $211.6444.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price (down from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Barclays set a $200.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total transaction of $177,540.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 83,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,418,150.40. The trade was a 1.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total transaction of $272,459.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,466,400. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 30,356 shares of company stock valued at $4,981,575 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 276,761 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $44,370,000 after acquiring an additional 29,370 shares in the last quarter. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $371,000. HORAN Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 103.9% in the first quarter. HORAN Wealth LLC now owns 51,304 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $8,337,000 after purchasing an additional 26,142 shares in the last quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.1% in the first quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glenview Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.1% in the first quarter. Glenview Trust Co now owns 14,337 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,299,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $207.88 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $169.63 billion, a PE ratio of 114.85, a P/E/G ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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