Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Cantor Fitzgerald

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $350.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 24.49% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Capital One Financial downgraded Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $281.14 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $176.30 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $90.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. First Pacific Financial boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Finally, Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. 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.