Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given New $285.00 Price Target at Macquarie

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) had its price objective upped by Macquarie from $270.00 to $285.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the network technology company's stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on PANW. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $365.00 to $360.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market outperform rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $300.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $317.20.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW traded down $12.11 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $311.66. 13,753,051 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,186,567. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $188.30 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The company's 50 day moving average is $288.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $298.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.70 billion, a PE ratio of 49.75, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 1.18.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The firm's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 280,193 shares of company stock worth $80,670,132 over the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. GSG Advisors LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 112,040 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $33,038,000 after purchasing an additional 26,767 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,726 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $7,291,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,232,000 after buying an additional 1,325 shares in the last quarter. 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.