Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given “Hold” Rating at Westpark Capital

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Westpark Capital in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, June 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $380.00 price objective on the stock. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.49.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $359.75 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $224.64 and a one year high of $380.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $328.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $311.18. The stock has a market cap of $116.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total transaction of $67,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total transaction of $341,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 41,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,175,564.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 366,372 shares of company stock worth $118,440,693. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $1,563,020,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $177,933,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after acquiring an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.