Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 2.7% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares were up 2.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $190.92 and last traded at $190.3150. Approximately 4,807,960 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 6,228,561 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.35.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. KeyCorp downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $248.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, November 17th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $207.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $197.23. The company has a market cap of $132.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.97, for a total value of $153,979.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,505 shares in the company, valued at $10,449,674.85. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,215,130 shares of company stock worth $249,031,488. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $810,047,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $633,068,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,234,650,000 after buying an additional 2,134,735 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,506 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $662,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,688,432 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.