Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price lowered by Jefferies Financial Group from $240.00 to $215.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Susquehanna increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.25.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $170.64 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.98 billion, a PE ratio of 96.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Dallas Securities Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the third quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,492 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Zega Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zega Financial LLC now owns 5,997 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,050,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.