Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 1.9% – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was up 1.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $177.62 and last traded at $177.50. Approximately 1,342,139 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 6,031,442 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $222.50 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.77.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $189.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.51. The company has a market capitalization of $116.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm 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 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $174,124,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares during the period. 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.