Needham & Company LLC Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target raised by Needham & Company LLC from $385.00 to $450.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 4.4 %

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $17.52 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $380.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,653,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,849,889. The company has a 50-day moving average of $363.59 and a 200 day moving average of $338.82. The company has a market cap of $123.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $260.09 and a 1 year high of $408.53.

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

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $177,933,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $174,124,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after buying an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.