Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-four research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation, twenty-nine have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $200.85.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. BTIG Research lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price objective (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $208.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % 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. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $706,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 18.7% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 5,882 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after buying an additional 925 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 54,936 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $18,624,000 after buying an additional 5,512 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 28.6% during the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 3,032 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 30,213 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,243,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $187.70 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $207.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.17 billion, a PE ratio of 48.88, a PEG ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $188.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.