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

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective raised by equities researchers at Evercore ISI from $395.00 to $455.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 17.25% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Scotiabank boosted 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. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $391.92.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $388.06 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $249.56 and a 1 year high of $408.53. The stock has a market cap of $126.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.53, a P/E/G ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $361.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $338.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 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 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $67,232,000 after purchasing an additional 7,291 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $24,414,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% in the second quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $914,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.