BTIG Research Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by BTIG Research in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $248.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. BTIG Research’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 20.83% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $207.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Twenty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.91.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $205.25 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $209.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.21. The stock has a market cap of $140.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 127.88, a P/E/G ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 0.95. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.66% and a net margin of 12.30%.The firm’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 356,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,675,777.46. The trade was a 25.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at $19,629,805.65. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 1,215,830 shares of company stock valued at $249,160,428 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,290,270,000 after buying an additional 1,253,589 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,093,262,000 after purchasing an additional 169,055 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,902,048 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,177,765,000 after purchasing an additional 950,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,202,776,000 after buying an additional 611,375 shares during the period. 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.