The Goldman Sachs Group Boosts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $425.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $376.00 to $425.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and set a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $371.50.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 5.1 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $355.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $338.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $317.74. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $233.81 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 269,866 shares of company stock valued at $88,620,447 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $8,129,800,000 after buying an additional 1,058,127 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after acquiring an additional 198,078 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.