Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 5% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) rose 5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $159.16 and last traded at $154.35. Approximately 12,170,916 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 15% from the average daily volume of 10,564,966 shares. The stock had previously closed at $147.02.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 5.0%

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $164.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.95 billion, a PE ratio of 85.28, a P/E/G ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora bought 68,085 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $146.87 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,643.95. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,394 shares in the company, valued at $50,434,276.78. The trade was a 24.73% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,631,525. This represents a 30.17% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 144,252 shares of company stock valued at $26,947,635 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Stance Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Stance Capital LLC now owns 7,340 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,352,000 after buying an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,766,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 982,633 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $181,001,000 after acquiring an additional 37,083 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 26,959 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,966,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.