Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 1.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price traded up 1.5% on Wednesday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $225.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $187.02 and last traded at $186.29. 1,547,199 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 6,089,137 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.51.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $188.00 to $212.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Tradewinds LLC. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% during the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $123.17 billion, a PE ratio of 48.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.81.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

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.