Westpark Capital Reiterates "Hold" Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Westpark Capital in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on PANW. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $416.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. OTR Global reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $404.62.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $4.52 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $397.41. The stock had a trading volume of 6,258,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,859,589. The business's 50 day moving average is $363.59 and its 200-day moving average is $338.82. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $260.09 and a 52 week high of $408.53. The company has a market cap of $129.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.82, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are set to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. The firm 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 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $536,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,929,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,468 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beck Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 25.6% during the first quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 16,142 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $4,586,000 after purchasing an additional 3,289 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.