Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $425.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $390.00 to $425.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on PANW. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. BTIG Research increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $387.00 to $449.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $364.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.89. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $260.09 and a fifty-two week 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 announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,924.82. This represents a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction 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 $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.