Evercore ISI Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $455.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at Evercore ISI from $395.00 to $455.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 17.46% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $386.34.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded up $0.36 during trading on Monday, hitting $387.36. 430,867 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,834,265. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.73, a P/E/G ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $359.86 and its 200 day moving average is $336.73. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $249.56 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. This represents a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Tradewinds LLC. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 30 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.