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

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-three research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $204.27.

A number of research firms have weighed in on PANW. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Loop Capital cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $205.00 target price for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. This trade represents a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,114,786 shares of company stock worth $200,426,637. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. United Bank increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 144,598 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $49,424,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 60.1% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 437 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $149,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, Taika Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,573,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $153.57 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $185.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.10. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $132.63 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $101.68 billion, a PE ratio of 86.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.