Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Upgraded at Stephens

Stephens upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on PANW. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.27.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $173.18 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.57, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after buying an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,324,387,000 after buying an additional 1,088,631 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.