Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of PANW opened at $397.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $129.40 billion, a PE ratio of 54.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $363.59 and a 200 day moving average of $338.82. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $260.09 and a 52-week high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks shares are scheduled to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $420.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $404.62.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.