Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Increased to $420.00 by Analysts at Susquehanna

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at Susquehanna from $340.00 to $420.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “positive” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Susquehanna’s target price indicates a potential upside of 22.49% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on PANW. Citigroup raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Daiwa America raised Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9 %

PANW stock traded down $3.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $342.88. The stock had a trading volume of 63,091 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,330,700. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $224.64 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $335.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $310.46. The firm has a market cap of $111.02 billion, a PE ratio of 49.78, a PEG ratio of 5.29 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 339,572 shares of company stock valued at $111,126,265. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $1,563,020,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 4th 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 period. Axiom Investors LLC DE raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% in the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $282,406,000 after purchasing an additional 749,199 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth $177,933,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.