Wedbush Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $300.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANWGet Free Report) had its target price increased by research analysts at Wedbush from $225.00 to $300.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Wedbush’s price target suggests a potential upside of 19.93% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on PANW. HSBC decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $190.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.28.

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Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $250.15 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $261.41. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.69. The company has a market capitalization of $204.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 0.77.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 52,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,631,525. This represents a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total transaction of $272,459.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,466,400. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 30,756 shares of company stock worth $5,076,355 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,603,473,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101,267 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,934,935,000 after buying an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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About Palo Alto Networks

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Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.

Further Reading

Analyst Recommendations for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

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