Oppenheimer Boosts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $330.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target lifted by analysts at Oppenheimer from $305.00 to $330.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target indicates a potential upside of 18.99% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on PANW. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $315.46.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.31 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $277.33. 3,161,233 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,610,827. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $176.30 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $300.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $290.27. The firm has a market cap of $89.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553 over the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $751,276,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $606,854,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,917 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $204,728,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $771,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 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.