BMO Capital Markets Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $334.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price raised by BMO Capital Markets from $327.00 to $334.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the topic of several other research reports. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Redburn Atlantic increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Westpark Capital reiterated a hold rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price target for the company from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $317.45.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $311.44 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $289.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.15. The stock has a market cap of $100.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.03 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $194.08 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,895,983.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,895,983.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 278,326 shares of company stock worth $80,147,130. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.