Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives Outperform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $450.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target 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. Scotiabank upped 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 report on Tuesday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $383.36 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $260.09 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $364.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $339.89. The firm has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is set 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 closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,924.82. The trade was a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have 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

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth $29,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.