Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $449.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $387.00 to $449.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on PANW. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $397.41 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $129.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $260.09 and a 52 week high of $408.53. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $363.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $338.82.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is set to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly issued shares will be payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % 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 Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other 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.