Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 0.7% Higher – Here’s Why

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) were up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $188.97 and last traded at $188.17. Approximately 930,387 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 5,810,502 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.85.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Hsbc Global Res cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $222.50 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.23. The company has a market cap of $123.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The business 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 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in 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 last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $764,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197,765 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.8% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,634,701 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $297,450,000 after acquiring an additional 848,127 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.