Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given “Outperform” Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $450.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 17.38% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $364.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $339.39. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $260.09 and a 52-week high of $408.53. The company has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a PE ratio of 52.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is going to split before the market opens on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were 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 directly owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 2,606 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $891,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,737 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $22,127,000 after buying an additional 5,133 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $5,827,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.1% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,152 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.