Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 1% – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price was up 1% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $170.54 and last traded at $169.56. Approximately 4,695,922 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 10,133,215 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.85.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on PANW shares. Arete Research raised Palo Alto Networks from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Argus raised shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.95.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $138.36 billion, a PE ratio of 93.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.11.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.40, for a total value of $177,540.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 83,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,418,150.40. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $802,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,103,105. The trade was a 3.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after buying an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $1,415,364,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.