Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given New $440.00 Price Target at Stifel Nicolaus

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $385.00 to $440.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on PANW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $381.56.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $7.39 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $387.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,197,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,847,793. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $234.15 and a 12-month high of $408.53. The firm has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $358.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $335.42.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.