Sanford C. Bernstein Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $229.00 to $225.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target indicates a potential upside of 20.88% from the stock’s previous close.

PANW has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stephens cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $186.14 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $178.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.33. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $142.01 and a twelve month high of $208.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.24 billion, a PE 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. The trade was a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the fourth quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.