Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price lifted by Stifel Nicolaus from $385.00 to $440.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on PANW. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. BTIG Research upped 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 note on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $384.76.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $387.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.01 billion, a PE ratio of 53.38, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $359.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $336.73. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $234.15 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, 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 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 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.