Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $432.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price raised by Citigroup from $395.00 to $432.00 in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of several other reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price target for the company. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.6 %

PANW stock opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $364.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $339.89. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $260.09 and a 12-month high of $408.53.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are scheduled to split before the market opens on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly issued shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $177,933,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $174,124,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after buying an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.