Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives $205.06 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-two analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation, twenty-eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $205.06.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. JMP Securities upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Tradewinds LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 2,130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Opinicus Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the third quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 2,138 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $731,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,989 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $680,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% during the third quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,220 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $176.32 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $185.65 and its 200 day moving average is $184.73. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $116.74 billion, a PE ratio of 99.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.