Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given New $400.00 Price Target at KeyCorp

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target upped by equities research analysts at KeyCorp from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. KeyCorp’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 16.50% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on PANW. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $345.63.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.8 %

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total transaction of $497,517.32. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 20,501 shares in the company, valued at $6,292,166.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total transaction of $497,517.32. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 20,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,292,166.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total transaction of $10,559,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,259,567 shares in the company, valued at $369,443,596.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 367,315 shares of company stock valued at $118,696,590. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $1,563,020,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after buying an additional 1,058,127 shares during the period. Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% in the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after acquiring an additional 749,199 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $177,933,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted 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 buying an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.