Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 0.3%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares rose 0.3% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $295.95 and last traded at $294.41. Approximately 679,970 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 5,335,915 shares. The stock had previously closed at $293.41.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Piper Sandler downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $286.15 and a 200 day moving average of $292.81. The company has a market capitalization of $93.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 122,917 shares of company stock worth $33,959,203 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Parisi Gray Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.