Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $450.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $416.00 to $450.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of several other reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 4.4 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded down $17.52 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $380.18. The stock had a trading volume of 1,653,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,849,889. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $260.09 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53. The company has a market cap of $123.79 billion, a PE ratio of 54.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $363.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $338.82.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is going to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly issued shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. This represents a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $536,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,929,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,468 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the first quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beck Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 16,142 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,586,000 after acquiring an additional 3,289 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.