Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald restated their overweight rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $445.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on PANW. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $387.00 to $449.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $17.52 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $380.18. 1,653,304 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,849,889. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $363.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $338.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.82, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $260.09 and a 52-week high of $408.53.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are set 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 market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,924.82. This trade represents a 27.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 2,606 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $891,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,737 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $22,127,000 after purchasing an additional 5,133 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $5,827,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,152 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by 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.