Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective increased by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $225.00 to $240.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price indicates a potential upside of 26.48% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 target price on the stock. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW traded up $0.99 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $189.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,071,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,523,672. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $191.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.21. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm’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 firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.25, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,231,134 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 571,172 shares of company stock worth $107,074,352. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.