Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation, thirty-one have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $201.40.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $217.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, 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 sold 571,172 shares of company stock valued at $107,074,352 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% during the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,149,000 after buying an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth about $24,414,000. 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 worth $67,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $189.51 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $130.04 and a 1 year high of $207.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $191.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.55. The company has a market cap of $124.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

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.