Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $435.00 at Robert W. Baird

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective lifted by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from $425.00 to $435.00 in a report released on Thursday. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target suggests a potential upside of 14.28% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $370.00 target price (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $416.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded down $17.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $380.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,716,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,863,382. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $363.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $338.82. The stock has a market cap of $123.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $260.09 and a 52 week high of $408.53.

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,924.82. This represents a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Tradewinds LLC. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the second 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 period. FLC Capital Advisors boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 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.