Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Overweight Rating from Morgan Stanley

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reaffirmed by Morgan Stanley in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $360.00 price objective on the network technology company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective suggests a potential upside of 15.27% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $275.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $315.74.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW traded up $10.78 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $312.32. 3,691,570 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,100,407. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $285.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $296.45. The company has a market cap of $100.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.18. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $186.75 and a 12-month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at $49,895,983.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares in the company, valued at $49,895,983.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 280,193 shares of company stock worth $80,670,132. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by 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.