Citigroup Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $385.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Citigroup from $345.00 to $385.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.20% from the company’s current price.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $330.66.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.1 %

PANW stock traded up $6.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $340.11. 1,081,206 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,361,560. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $201.17 and a 12-month high of $380.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $323.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $310.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total value of $497,517.32. Following the transaction, the president now owns 20,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,292,166.92. The sale was disclosed in a 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 on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total transaction of $67,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 367,315 shares of company stock worth $118,696,590 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,563,020,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,187,915 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% during the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after acquiring an additional 749,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $177,933,000. 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.