Evercore ISI Cuts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $230.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Evercore ISI from $455.00 to $230.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 26.17% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. KeyCorp raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $217.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $188.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $207.50 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.46.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $1.91 on Tuesday, reaching $182.29. 1,265,832 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,443,058. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $207.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $191.91 and a 200-day moving average of $177.38. The firm has a market cap of $119.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently 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.