JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $221.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $225.00 to $221.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 18.73% from the stock’s current price.

PANW has been the topic of several other reports. Stephens downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $186.14 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.33. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $142.01 and a 52-week high of $208.39. The firm has a market cap of $123.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $39,281,220.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 317,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. This trade represents a 41.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% during the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after buying an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,886,000 after buying an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,871,000 after buying an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. 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.