StockNews.com Upgrades Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) to Buy

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday.

A number of other research firms have also commented on PANW. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.03.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $201.24 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $130.04 and a twelve month high of $207.24. The stock has a market cap of $66.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.11.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 571,172 shares of company stock valued at $107,074,352. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during 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.