Analysts Set Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) PT at $206.40

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the forty-two brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $208.00.

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Barclays dropped their target price on 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. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Stephens downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded down $1.98 on Friday, hitting $185.82. 4,497,271 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,587,288. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $142.01 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The stock has a market cap of $123.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $178.29 and a 200 day moving average of $185.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total transaction of $22,858,894.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 293,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at $55,458,002.70. This represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,962 shares of company stock valued at $96,933,690 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing 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 about $970,736,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $810,047,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.