Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 3.8% – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shot up 3.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $197.15 and last traded at $196.55. 1,411,644 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 5,824,731 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $122.99 billion, a PE ratio of 48.81, a P/E/G ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day moving average is $187.96 and its 200 day moving average is $179.59.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,596,176.16. The trade was a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% during the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after buying an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,414,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $67,232,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.