Brokerages Set Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Target Price at $201.40

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $201.40.

Several research firms recently commented on PANW. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $217.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $184.20 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $207.24. The company has a market capitalization of $120.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $191.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.38.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

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.