Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $360.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on PANW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an overweight rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a hold rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $321.39.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $321.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $290.37 and a 200 day moving average of $299.74. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $201.17 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.74, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,895,983.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $36,334,289.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,895,983.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 278,326 shares of company stock valued at $80,147,130. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 59.0% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,026 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.8% in the 3rd quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,643 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 5,790 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303 shares in the last quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.4% during the third quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 1,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, Certuity LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the third quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 1,781 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% 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.