Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $330.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective lifted by Oppenheimer from $305.00 to $330.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Northland Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Capital One Financial lowered shares of 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 report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $315.46.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of PANW opened at $277.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $89.61 billion, a PE ratio of 43.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $299.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $290.18. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $176.30 and a 12-month high of $380.84.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total transaction of $15,436,350.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,961 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 425 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 452 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Family Wealth Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.