Scotiabank Lowers Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $200.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price lowered by analysts at Scotiabank from $400.00 to $200.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 9.14% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $222.50 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.46.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ PANW opened at $183.25 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $191.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.76. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $130.04 and a 52 week high of $207.24. The stock has a market cap of $120.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. 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.