Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) rose 1.3% on Monday . The company traded as high as $344.50 and last traded at $344.47. Approximately 540,424 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 4,206,753 shares. The stock had previously closed at $340.12.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on PANW shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $110.90 billion, a PE ratio of 50.07, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $313.57.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The company 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total transaction of $500,202.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at $6,452,097.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567 in the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% during the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after acquiring an additional 749,199 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. 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.