Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 1.4%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price was down 1.4% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $332.85 and last traded at $333.31. Approximately 528,206 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 4,227,131 shares. The stock had previously closed at $337.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Daiwa Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.08.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $107.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $336.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $312.63.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total transaction of $67,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at $8,443,916. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.54, for a total value of $22,436,448.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 694,228 shares in the company, valued at $233,635,491.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares during the period. Axiom Investors LLC DE boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% during the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after acquiring an additional 749,199 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.