Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives $314.82 Consensus PT from Analysts

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-nine analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $314.82.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.6% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 79,490 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $22,586,000 after purchasing an additional 7,650 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 18.7% during the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 5,305 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $482,000. Zhang Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $224,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.7% during the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 12,878 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,659,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $293.82 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $290.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.86. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $176.30 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The company has a market capitalization of $94.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.91, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks 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.