JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has Lowered Expectations for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) had its price target cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $225.00 to $221.00 in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the network technology company's stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on PANW. Stephens cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ PANW traded up $0.61 on Wednesday, hitting $186.75. 4,898,365 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,612,883. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $142.01 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $124.52 billion, a PE ratio of 105.21, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $178.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The stock was 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 directly owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth approximately $970,736,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $810,047,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the fourth 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 last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is 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.