Evercore ISI Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Evercore ISI from $395.00 to $455.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 17.46% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on PANW. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $386.34.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PANW stock traded up $0.36 on Monday, reaching $387.36. The company had a trading volume of 430,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,834,265. The stock has a market cap of $126.12 billion, a PE ratio of 53.73, a PEG ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $359.86 and a 200-day moving average of $336.73. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $249.56 and a 12 month 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This represents a 27.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $177,933,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at $174,124,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after acquiring an additional 444,100 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.