Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns “Overweight” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $223.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target suggests a potential upside of 14.07% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on PANW. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $208.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.77.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $195.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.17. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $207.24. The company has a market capitalization of $128.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.2% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 76,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,955,000 after purchasing an additional 45,672 shares during the last quarter. BIT Capital GmbH boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 155.8% in the 4th quarter. BIT Capital GmbH now owns 862 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 152.3% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 40,288 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,331,000 after buying an additional 24,317 shares during the period. Sava Infond d.o.o. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $12,906,000. Finally, Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 93.1% during the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 59,428 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,815,000 after acquiring an additional 28,654 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.