Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Jefferies Financial Group Analyst Says

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target boosted by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $225.00 to $240.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 26.48% from the company’s current price.

PANW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $207.50 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $210.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of PANW stock traded up $0.99 during trading on Thursday, reaching $189.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,071,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,523,672. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $207.24. The company has a market cap of $62.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $191.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.21.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.25, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,231,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 571,172 shares of company stock valued at $107,074,352 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth $174,124,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after acquiring an additional 444,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $94,875,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.