Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives $366.08 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-two research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $366.08.

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. BTIG Research increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $333.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $108.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.49, a P/E/G ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $224.64 and a 12 month high of $380.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $336.32 and a 200-day moving average of $312.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 464,075 shares of company stock valued at $154,029,567 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% in the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 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.