Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) PT Raised to $345.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $300.00 to $345.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ target price points to a potential downside of 6.25% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on PANW. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Daiwa America upgraded Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $360.20.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 7.2 %

PANW stock opened at $368.01 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $224.64 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $119.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.49, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a fifty day moving average of $328.10 and a 200-day moving average of $310.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,055,533.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.54, for a total value of $22,436,448.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 694,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $233,635,491.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 366,993 shares of company stock worth $118,596,770. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,563,020,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $771,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187,915 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after purchasing an additional 749,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $177,933,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.