Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms “Overweight” Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their overweight rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a $445.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $387.00 to $449.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $370.00 target price (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $383.36 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $260.09 and a 12-month high of $408.53. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $364.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $339.89. The firm has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a PE ratio of 49.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks shares are scheduled to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. This trade represents a 9.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% during the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after buying an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $67,232,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at $24,414,000. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.5% in the second quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 2,695 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently 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.