Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 0.4%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price rose 0.4% on Friday . The company traded as high as $336.67 and last traded at $335.04. Approximately 721,007 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 4,210,625 shares. The stock had previously closed at $333.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank increased their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $109.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $336.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $312.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 19,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.