BMO Capital Markets Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $225.00

Key Points

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Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $217.00 to $225.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the network technology company's stock. BMO Capital Markets' price target would indicate a potential upside of 27.72% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also commented on PANW. Morgan Stanley set a $496.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $217.64.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW opened at $176.17 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $191.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $186.35. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.47 billion, a PE ratio of 100.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,080. The trade was a 5.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at $20,414,099.75. This represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. St. Clair Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,233,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.4% during the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,271 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. TFG Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the second quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,668 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.4% during the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 12,450 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,154,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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