Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Rating Reiterated by JMP Securities

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at JMP Securities in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $380.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. JMP Securities’ target price indicates a potential upside of 5.63% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $325.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.49.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $359.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $116.49 billion, a PE ratio of 52.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $224.64 and a one year high of $380.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $328.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $311.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total transaction of $10,559,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,259,567 shares in the company, valued at $369,443,596.77. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total transaction of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,452,097.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total transaction of $10,559,160.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,259,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,443,596.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 366,372 shares of company stock worth $118,440,693. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $509,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the second quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 56,095 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $19,017,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Core Alternative Capital raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the second quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 14,081 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,774,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.3% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $878,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 565.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 273 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.