Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $410.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price boosted by Barclays from $370.00 to $410.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 9.38% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on PANW. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.79.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $374.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $122.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.70, a P/E/G ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $348.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $322.67. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $233.81 and a one year high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,055,533.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 351,452 shares of company stock worth $118,643,279 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,806 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 403.5% during the 1st quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 720 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% during the first quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 3,283 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $933,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.7% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,043 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $849,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.