Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $207.50 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.01.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $202.50 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $191.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.73. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $205.11. The company has a market capitalization of $66.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.25, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,231,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 571,172 shares of company stock valued at $107,074,352 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during 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 buying an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at $174,124,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after buying an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $94,875,000. Hedge funds and other 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.