Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 0.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price rose 0.7% during trading on Wednesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $305.00 to $330.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $280.88 and last traded at $276.89. Approximately 816,036 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 5,586,550 shares. The stock had previously closed at $275.02.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total transaction of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,226,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 777,521 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $220,917,000 after acquiring an additional 22,154 shares during the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,267 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,054,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 11,603.9% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 23,993 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,817,000 after acquiring an additional 23,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 232.8% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 426 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.4 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.12. The firm has a market cap of $90.84 billion, a PE ratio of 43.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.