Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Rosenblatt Securities Analyst Says

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target increased by Rosenblatt Securities from $212.50 to $235.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.45% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.77.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $196.73 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $181.17. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $207.24. The company has a market capitalization of $129.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.23, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $970,736,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 86.9% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,775,171 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $868,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220,130 shares during the last quarter. 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.