Robert W. Baird Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective lifted by Robert W. Baird from $385.00 to $425.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 9.82% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. KeyCorp upped their price target 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. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $384.76.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $387.00 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $359.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $336.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.38, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $234.15 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at $219,505,142.12. The trade was a 9.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total transaction of $341,440.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,175,564.48. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after buying an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third 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 last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.