Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 1.2% Higher

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares traded up 1.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $294.13 and last traded at $292.27. 749,512 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 5,403,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $288.79.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital cut shares of 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Redburn Atlantic boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $94.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $287.61 and its 200 day moving average is $292.35.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $67,955,958.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,563,020,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $606,854,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,917 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $771,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187,915 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% during the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $282,406,000 after acquiring an additional 749,199 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.