Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.08 EPS

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $392.89 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $362.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $338.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $258.17 and a 1-year high of $408.53.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PANW shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.92.

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.