Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Negative Rating from OTR Global

OTR Global reaffirmed their negative rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on PANW. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.66 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $389.66. 619,381 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,884,469. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $353.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $331.32. The firm has a market cap of $126.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.10, a P/E/G ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $234.15 and a 52 week high of $391.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade 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, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total value of $341,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 41,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,175,564.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Norden Group LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 65.6% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 1,538 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 609 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 145.6% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 501 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,459 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,267,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 37,319 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,603,000 after purchasing an additional 5,781 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.