Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) “Market Perform” Rating Reiterated at Northland Securities

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Northland Securities in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $370.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $350.00. Northland Securities’ price objective indicates a potential downside of 3.48% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on PANW. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.6 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $260.09 and a 1 year high of $408.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $364.32 and a 200-day moving average of $339.39.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is set to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly minted shares will be distributed to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $25,000. 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.