Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Rating Reiterated by JMP Securities

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating restated by JMP Securities in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $380.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock. JMP Securities’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.67% from the company’s previous close.

PANW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets initiated coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price target on the stock. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $350.78.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $343.36 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $327.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $310.68. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $224.64 and a one year high of $380.84. The stock has a market cap of $111.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.91, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued 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 return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 322 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $99,820.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,167,770. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $99,820.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,767 shares in the company, valued at $1,167,770. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 125,866 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $42,165,110.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at $55,791,570. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 367,315 shares of company stock worth $118,696,590 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,563,020,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% during the fourth quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $282,406,000 after acquiring an additional 749,199 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in 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 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.