Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 2.3% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price shot up 2.3% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $179.27 and last traded at $173.78. 12,197,450 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 18% from the average session volume of 10,320,630 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.87.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.95.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $161.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $185.31. The company has a market capitalization of $141.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.77.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 150,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,103,105. This represents a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 149,552 shares of company stock valued at $27,779,427. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Employees Provident Fund Board purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $281,542,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $502,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,738 shares in the last quarter. 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.