Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $450.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 17.38% from the company’s previous close.

PANW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $387.00 to $449.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $370.00 price target (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.6 %

PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $364.32 and a 200 day moving average of $339.39. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $260.09 and a 12 month high of $408.53. The company has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a PE ratio of 52.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks shares are going to split on 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. The trade was a 9.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

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