Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given New $432.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective hoisted by Citigroup from $395.00 to $432.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 4.4 %

PANW stock traded down $17.52 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $380.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,653,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,849,889. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $260.09 and a 52 week high of $408.53. The stock has a market cap of $123.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.82, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $363.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $338.82.

Palo Alto Networks shares are scheduled to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly minted shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.