Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $432.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective increased by Citigroup from $395.00 to $432.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $390.00 to $430.00 in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $383.36 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $260.09 and a twelve month high of $408.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $364.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $339.63. The stock has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.92, a PEG ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business 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 firm earned $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,505,142.12. This represents a 9.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $536,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,929,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.0% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,468 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Beck Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 25.6% in the 1st quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 16,142 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,586,000 after purchasing an additional 3,289 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% 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.