Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 3.3%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price rose 3.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $291.63 and last traded at $291.01. Approximately 1,102,115 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 5,491,081 shares. The stock had previously closed at $281.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on PANW. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Redburn Atlantic raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $94.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $290.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $291.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. First Pacific Financial raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.