Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective upped by Citigroup from $395.00 to $432.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $364.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $339.89. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $260.09 and a 1 year high of $408.53.

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

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. This trade represents a 27.40 % 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 ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 10.7% in the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 2,606 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $891,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,737 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $22,127,000 after purchasing an additional 5,133 shares in the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at $5,827,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 1,152 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $578,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. 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.