Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Buy Rating from TD Securities

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by equities researchers at TD Securities in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $230.00 price objective on the network technology company's stock. TD Securities' price target points to a potential upside of 18.26% from the company's current price.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given 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 $205.02.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of PANW opened at $194.48 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $178.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 109.57, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 124,054 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $21,169,000 after buying an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 39.4% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $901,000 after buying an additional 1,493 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 144,449 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $24,649,000 after acquiring an additional 20,533 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 14.7% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 484,110 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $82,609,000 after purchasing an additional 62,120 shares during the period. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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