Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives $326.29 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-two ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $326.29.

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $327.00 to $334.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Daiwa Capital Markets initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $337.64 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $201.17 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $313.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $308.65. The stock has a market cap of $109.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total transaction of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares in the company, valued at $373,434,232.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares in the company, valued at $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,443,916. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 302,525 shares of company stock worth $93,982,207 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parisi Gray Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.