Robert W. Baird Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Robert W. Baird from $425.00 to $435.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective points to a potential upside of 13.47% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 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. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $364.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.39.

Palo Alto Networks shares 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 payable to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. 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 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. 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 $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $67,232,000 after purchasing an additional 7,291 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $24,414,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.