Truist Financial Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price cut by Truist Financial from $213.00 to $205.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.25.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $170.64 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $132.50 and a one year high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.48.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction 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. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its stake 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 worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.