Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 0.8%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price shot up 0.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $285.06 and last traded at $284.42. 964,694 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 5,979,175 shares. The stock had previously closed at $282.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Capital One Financial downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Loop Capital cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.7 %

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $320.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $286.10. The company has a market cap of $91.80 billion, a PE ratio of 44.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.21.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director John Donovan sold 20,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.57, for a total transaction of $5,810,645.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 43,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,510,086.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director John Donovan sold 20,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.57, for a total transaction of $5,810,645.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 43,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,510,086.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 143,153 shares of company stock worth $44,107,332. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,071.4% during the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.