Susquehanna Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price raised by research analysts at Susquehanna from $420.00 to $435.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “positive” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Susquehanna’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 10.72% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $387.00 to $449.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $396.41.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $392.89 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $362.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $338.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.19, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $258.17 and a one year high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. This represents a 9.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $67,232,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $24,414,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% during the second quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by 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.