Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 1.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) rose 1.5% during trading on Wednesday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $225.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $187.02 and last traded at $186.29. Approximately 1,547,199 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 6,089,137 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.51.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Guggenheim cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.85.

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 that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after buying an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,005,161 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $685,364,000 after purchasing an additional 31,595 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.5 %

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $188.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $178.81. The firm has a market cap of $122.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal 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.