BMO Capital Markets Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $334.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price raised by BMO Capital Markets from $327.00 to $334.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Twelve equities research 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, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $317.45.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $311.44 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $289.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.15. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $194.08 and a 1-year high of $380.84. 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 posted its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,895,983.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 278,326 shares of company stock valued at $80,147,130. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 59.0% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,026 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.8% in the 3rd quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,643 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 5,790 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303 shares during the last quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 1,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Certuity LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 1,781 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $418,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% 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.