Westpark Capital Reiterates “Hold” Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Westpark Capital restated their hold rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $196.40 target price on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price objective (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.77.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $196.73 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $207.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $186.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.17. The stock has a market cap of $129.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.23, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,121,531 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $204,074,000 after purchasing an additional 544,336 shares during the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 104.6% during the fourth quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,224 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,860,000 after acquiring an additional 5,226 shares in the last quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 92.7% in the fourth quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 68,380 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,442,000 after acquiring an additional 32,886 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 115.5% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 392,270 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $71,377,000 after acquiring an additional 210,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 116.5% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 5,589 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,017,000 after acquiring an additional 3,007 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.