Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 2.9% – Still a Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price shot up 2.9% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $159.55 and last traded at $159.32. 9,870,730 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 40% from the average session volume of 7,061,226 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.77.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $185.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.05 billion, a PE ratio of 100.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Steph & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.