Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 1.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 1.8% on Friday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $390.00 to $421.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $378.33 and last traded at $375.92. 860,505 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 4,073,196 shares. The stock had previously closed at $369.40.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price objective for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.28.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. The trade was 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. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total transaction of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after acquiring an additional 32,626 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after purchasing an additional 198,078 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,502,000 after purchasing an additional 8,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $340.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $318.89. The firm has a market cap of $121.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.85, a P/E/G ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

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.