BNP Paribas Initiates Coverage on Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $410.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $371.50.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $369.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $120.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.95, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $339.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $318.54. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $233.81 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,014,746.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 269,866 shares of company stock valued at $88,620,447 in the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,110 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Herbst Group LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Herbst Group LLC now owns 9,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,313,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 280 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by 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.