Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 1.1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) were up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $196.00 and last traded at $195.68. Approximately 4,125,872 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 34% from the average daily volume of 6,216,702 shares. The stock had previously closed at $193.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several recent research reports. New Street Research increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Truist Financial set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, October 27th. Thirty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.6%

The stock has a market capitalization of $138.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 125.85, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $197.23.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total transaction of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total value of $132,573.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,864,398.95. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,260,680 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $810,047,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $633,068,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $662,000,000 after buying an additional 1,688,432 shares during the period. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $340,883,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.