Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $414.00 at BTIG Research

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective lifted by BTIG Research from $395.00 to $414.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on PANW. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 4.4 %

Shares of PANW stock traded down $17.52 during trading on Thursday, hitting $380.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,653,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,849,889. The company has a market cap of $123.79 billion, a PE ratio of 54.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day moving average of $363.59 and a 200-day moving average of $338.82. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $260.09 and a 52 week high of $408.53.

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

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business’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 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 trade represents a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at about $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $67,232,000 after purchasing an additional 7,291 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $24,414,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% in the second quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $914,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.