Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $305.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.06% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. DZ Bank started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, October 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $310.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 13th. HSBC began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, September 29th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $242.00 target price for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $272.14.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $256.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $79.63 billion, a PE ratio of 203.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $132.22 and a 1 year high of $265.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $244.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.55.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 51.13% and a net margin of 6.38%. The business’s revenue was up 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.75, for a total value of $170,696.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,017. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 721 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.75, for a total value of $170,696.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,244 shares in the company, valued at $768,017. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $61,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,419,825. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 176,890 shares of company stock worth $42,637,820 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. RB Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 602 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Morgens Waterfall Vintiadis & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth about $6,910,000. United Bank raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11.7% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 2,822 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,757,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $963,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,022,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.69% of the company’s stock.

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.