Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns “Market Outperform” Rating from JMP Securities

JMP Securities restated their market outperform rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $380.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Loop Capital downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $317.45.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of PANW opened at $311.44 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $194.08 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $289.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $299.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.84 billion, a PE ratio of 45.27, a P/E/G ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $373,434,232.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 278,326 shares of company stock valued at $80,147,130 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Parisi Gray Wealth Management raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.