Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Jefferies Financial Group Analyst Says

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $215.00 to $225.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 16.59% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on PANW. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.46.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $192.98 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $177.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.13. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.77 billion, a PE ratio of 108.72, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,038.83. This represents a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total transaction of $18,252,574.62. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $53,218,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 306.1% during the first quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $282,000. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 64.5% during the first quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 4,105 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $700,000 after buying an additional 1,609 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 707.1% during the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 84,806 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $14,471,000 after buying an additional 74,298 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.