Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $285.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target boosted by research analysts at Citigroup from $260.00 to $285.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, FlyOnTheWall reports. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 18.80% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on PANW. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. KeyCorp upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $269.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Friday, June 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $250.00 to $281.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $266.26.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $239.89 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $236.34 and a 200 day moving average of $217.65. The company has a market cap of $74.03 billion, a PE ratio of 190.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $132.22 and a 12-month high of $258.88.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 51.13% and a net margin of 6.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.17, for a total value of $9,682,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 177,213 shares in the company, valued at $38,130,921.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 250 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.10, for a total value of $63,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,302 shares in the company, valued at $7,219,840.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.17, for a total value of $9,682,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 177,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,130,921.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 168,140 shares of company stock worth $40,276,328 over the last three months. 3.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,961 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,843,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6.5% in the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 425 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6.4% in the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 452 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the second quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,438 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.69% of the company’s stock.

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.