Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 4.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price rose 4.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $223.00 to $230.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $186.15 and last traded at $184.77. Approximately 2,460,327 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 6,106,095 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.11.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 price target (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.24.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tradewinds LLC. grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $121.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.72.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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.