Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) Negative Rating Reiterated at OTR Global

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “negative” rating reissued by analysts at OTR Global in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on PANW. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 5.2 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $385.18 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $234.15 and a 12 month high of $386.20. The stock has a market cap of $125.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.13, a PEG ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50 day moving average is $353.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $331.32.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after acquiring an additional 114,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,000,511 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $339,183,000 after acquiring an additional 73,922 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.