Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives $225.09 Consensus PT from Analysts

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-one brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and thirty have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $225.0850.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Northland Securities lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, New Street Research raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total transaction of $172,718,016.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,119,152.78. This trade represents a 75.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.39, for a total transaction of $132,573.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 46,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,864,398.95. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,228,330 shares of company stock valued at $251,702,305. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $261,000. Strive Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Strive Asset Management LLC now owns 2,099 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,234,551 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $457,279,000 after purchasing an additional 163,718 shares in the last quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.2% in the 2nd quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4,524.0% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 547,944 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $112,131,000 after acquiring an additional 536,094 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $191.69 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.32, a PEG ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.79.

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