Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer reissued their outperform rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has a $450.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on PANW. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $364.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $339.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $260.09 and a 12-month high of $408.53.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are scheduled to split before the market opens on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,924.82. This represents a 27.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $536,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,929,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,468 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the first quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Beck Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.6% during the first quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 16,142 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,586,000 after purchasing an additional 3,289 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is 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.