Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $435.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective raised by Robert W. Baird from $425.00 to $435.00 in a report issued on Thursday. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the subject of several other research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $390.00 to $430.00 in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $432.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW traded down $17.05 during trading 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 market cap of $123.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $260.09 and a 12 month high of $408.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $363.59 and a 200-day moving average of $338.82.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is going to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the closing bell 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This represents a 27.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 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.