Oppenheimer Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $330.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) had its price target raised by Oppenheimer from $305.00 to $330.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the network technology company's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on PANW. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Redburn Atlantic increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $380.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $315.46.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $2.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $277.33. The stock had a trading volume of 3,168,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,619,974. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $299.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.61 billion, a PE ratio of 43.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $176.30 and a 12 month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,659,063. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 over the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. RB Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 602 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Morgens Waterfall Vintiadis & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $6,910,000. United Bank lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,822 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,757,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $963,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,022,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.