Palo Alto Networks Inc. [NASDAQ: PANW] gained 0.68% or 1.08 points to close at $159.72 with a heavy trading volume of 5275718 shares. The company report on January 11, 2023 that Palo Alto Networks Positioned as a Leader in 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Firewalls for the 11th Consecutive Year.
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Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), the global cybersecurity leader, today announced that the company has been positioned as a Leader in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Firewalls.
Palo Alto Networks was among the 17 vendors that Gartner evaluated for its 2022 Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls, which evaluates vendors’ Ability to Execute as well as their Completeness of Vision. Palo Alto Networks believes its vision of offering best-in-class security as part of an integrated network security platform, combined with its commitment to customer success, has helped the company earn a Leader position for the 11th consecutive year.
It opened the trading session at $157.35, the shares rose to $161.29 and dropped to $154.215, the range by which the price of stock traded the whole day. The daily chart for PANW points out that the company has recorded -6.17% loss over the past six months. However, it is still -20.8% lower than its most recent low trading price.
If we look at the average trading volume of 4.52M shares, PANW reached to a volume of 5275718 in the most recent trading day, which is why market watchdogs consider the stock to be active.
Here is what top equities market gurus are saying about Palo Alto Networks Inc. [PANW]:
Based on careful and fact-backed analyses by Wall Street experts, the current consensus on the target price for PANW shares is $206.39 per share. Analysis on target price and performance of stocks is usually carefully studied by market experts, and the current Wall Street consensus on PANW stock is a recommendation set at 1.80. This rating represents a strong Buy recommendation, on the scale from 1 to 5, where 5 would mean strong sell, 4 represents Sell, 3 is Hold, and 2 indicates Buy.
JP Morgan have made an estimate for Palo Alto Networks Inc. shares, keeping their opinion on the stock as Overweight, with their previous recommendation back on January 24, 2023. While these analysts kept the previous recommendation, Redburn raised their target price to Buy. The new note on the price target was released on December 01, 2022, representing the official price target for Palo Alto Networks Inc. stock. Previously, the target price had yet another raise from $183 to $200, while Loop Capital kept a Buy rating on PANW stock.
The Average True Range (ATR) for Palo Alto Networks Inc. is set at 4.58, with the Price to Sales ratio for PANW stock in the period of the last 12 months amounting to 8.27. The Price to Book ratio for the last quarter was 94.51, with the Price to Cash per share for the same quarter was set at 12.63. Price to Free Cash Flow for PANW in the course of the last twelve months was 19.75 with Quick ratio for the last quarter at 0.70.
Trading performance analysis for PANW stock
Palo Alto Networks Inc. [PANW] gain into the green zone at the end of the last week, gaining into a positive trend and gaining by 5.23. With this latest performance, PANW shares gained by 14.46% in over the last four-week period, additionally sinking by -6.17% over the last 6 months – not to mention a drop of -7.39% in the past year of trading.
Overbought and oversold stocks can be easily traced with the Relative Strength Index (RSI), where an RSI result of over 70 would be overbought, and any rate below 30 would indicate oversold conditions. An RSI rate of 50 would represent a neutral market momentum. The current RSI for PANW stock in for the last two-week period is set at 68.12, with the RSI for the last a single of trading hit 77.21, and the three-weeks RSI is set at 60.77 for Palo Alto Networks Inc. [PANW]. The present Moving Average for the last 50 days of trading for this stock 153.20, while it was recorded at 158.98 for the last single week of trading, and 165.93 for the last 200 days.
Palo Alto Networks Inc. [PANW]: A deeper dive into fundamental analysis
Operating Margin for any stock indicates how profitable investing would be, and Palo Alto Networks Inc. [PANW] shares currently have an operating margin of -3.43 and a Gross Margin at +68.76. Palo Alto Networks Inc.’s Net Margin is presently recorded at -4.85.
Return on Equity for this stock declined to -63.23, with Return on Assets sitting at -2.37.
Palo Alto Networks Inc.’s liquidity data is similarly interesting compelling, with a Quick Ratio of 0.70 and a Current Ratio set at 0.70.
Palo Alto Networks Inc. [PANW]: An earnings per share (EPS) analysis
The progress of the company may be observed through the prism of EPS growth rate, while Wall Street analysts are focusing on predicting the 5-year EPS growth rate for PANW. When it comes to the mentioned value, analysts are expecting to see the 5-year EPS growth rate for Palo Alto Networks Inc. go to 27.07%.
An analysis of insider ownership at Palo Alto Networks Inc. [PANW]
There are presently around $39,751 million, or 87.30% of PANW stock, in the hands of institutional investors. The top three institutional holders of PANW stocks are: VANGUARD GROUP INC with ownership of 19,223,780, which is approximately -16.558% of the company’s market cap and around 1.40% of the total institutional ownership; BLACKROCK INC., holding 17,074,712 shares of the stock with an approximate value of $2.73 billion in PANW stocks shares; and MORGAN STANLEY, currently with $1.5 billion in PANW stock with ownership of nearly 7.982% of the company’s market capitalization.
Positions in Palo Alto Networks Inc. stocks held by institutional investors increased at the end of February and at the time of the February reporting period, where 680 institutional holders increased their position in Palo Alto Networks Inc. [NASDAQ:PANW] by around 25,653,237 shares. Additionally, 589 investors decreased positions by around 34,363,865 shares, while 190 investors held positions by with 188,864,099 shares. The mentioned changes placed institutional holdings at 248,881,201 shares, according to the latest SEC report filing. PANW stock had 143 new institutional investments in for a total of 4,979,637 shares, while 94 institutional investors sold positions of 5,244,393 shares during the same period.