Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $350.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, June 21st. They set a buy rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $333.59.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $343.36 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $327.00 and its 200-day moving average is $310.68. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $224.64 and a 12-month high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $111.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 322 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $99,820.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,167,770. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 322 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $99,820.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,167,770. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 367,315 shares of company stock valued at $118,696,590 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 112,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $33,038,000 after purchasing an additional 26,767 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,291,000 after buying an additional 2,225 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 67.4% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 231 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,762 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $814,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 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.