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

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $225.00 to $221.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the network technology company's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price target would suggest a potential upside of 20.27% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PANW. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $229.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.10.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock traded down $10.72 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $183.76. 10,738,554 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,643,342. The firm's 50-day moving average is $178.03 and its 200-day moving average is $185.32. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $121.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.53, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. 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 previous year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 321,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after purchasing an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,611,013,000 after buying an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $970,736,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at $810,047,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.

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