Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 0.1% – What’s Next?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $367.65 and last traded at $365.83. 262,719 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 3,945,894 shares. The stock had previously closed at $365.39.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PANW. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. BTIG Research raised their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.7 %

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $352.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $328.38. The company has a market cap of $118.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.99, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total value of $341,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 41,517 shares in the company, valued at $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total transaction of $341,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 315,252 shares of company stock worth $107,138,877 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors grew its holdings 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 worth $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in 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 last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.