Rosenblatt Securities Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Rosenblatt Securities reissued their buy rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a $235.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.25.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $170.64 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The company has a market capitalization of $112.98 billion, a PE ratio of 96.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.48.

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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 358,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This trade represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.