Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given New $235.00 Price Target at Rosenblatt Securities

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target hoisted by Rosenblatt Securities from $212.50 to $235.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. HSBC downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.89.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $195.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $128.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.95. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $130.04 and a 1-year high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tradewinds LLC. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors increased its stake 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 buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.