Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $207.24 and last traded at $204.81, with a volume of 2079633 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $207.50 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.40.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.3 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $191.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.21. The firm has a market cap of $124.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company 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 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.25, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,231,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 571,172 shares of company stock worth $107,074,352. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tradewinds LLC. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.