Susquehanna Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target lifted by Susquehanna from $217.50 to $230.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a positive rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on PANW. TD Cowen upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (down previously from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $208.28 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $208.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $186.84 and its 200 day moving average is $182.29. The firm has a market cap of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $970,736,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.