Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $455.00 at Evercore ISI

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective upped by Evercore ISI from $395.00 to $455.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note 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 given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $397.41 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $129.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.82, a PEG ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $363.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $338.82. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $260.09 and a twelve month high of $408.53.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are scheduled 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 distributed to shareholders after the market closes 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. This represents a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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 worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $177,933,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $174,124,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after acquiring an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. 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.