Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $435.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at Susquehanna from $420.00 to $435.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “positive” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Susquehanna’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 10.72% from the company’s current price.

PANW has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $387.00 to $449.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $396.41.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $392.89 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $127.92 billion, a PE ratio of 54.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50-day moving average of $362.55 and a 200-day moving average of $338.41. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $258.17 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This represents a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Tradewinds LLC. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.