Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Bank of America Analyst Says

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective increased by Bank of America from $400.00 to $430.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $390.00 to $430.00 in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.6 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $364.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $339.89. The company has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $260.09 and a twelve month high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is set to split before the market opens on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after buying an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $757,321,000 after acquiring an additional 114,742 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by 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.