Loop Capital Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Loop Capital from $385.00 to $180.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Loop Capital’s price target indicates a potential upside of 3.34% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on PANW. Barclays cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $208.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.04.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $174.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.30 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $207.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $190.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.55.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company earned $0.32 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position 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 valued at $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after acquiring an additional 114,742 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.