Northland Securities Reiterates “Market Perform” Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Northland Securities reissued their market perform rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Northland Securities currently has a $370.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $350.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on PANW. BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of PANW stock traded down $17.52 during trading on Thursday, hitting $380.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,653,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,849,889. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $260.09 and a 52 week high of $408.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $363.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $338.82.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is set to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This trade represents a 27.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 2,606 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $891,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,737 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $22,127,000 after buying an additional 5,133 shares in the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,827,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,152 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the third quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.