Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Given Buy Rating at DA Davidson

Key Points

Error: Response status code does not indicate success: 429 (Too Many Requests).

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by equities researchers at DA Davidson in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $215.00 price target on the network technology company's stock. DA Davidson's price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.84% from the company's current price.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $496.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Stephens lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $218.29.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $184.01 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $122.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.57, a PEG ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $210.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $191.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $186.35.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The company's revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.85, for a total transaction of $1,009,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 101,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,414,099.75. This trade represents a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $99,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,632 shares in the company, valued at $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares in the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 3,430 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 1,715 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 137,663 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $23,491,000 after purchasing an additional 10,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shorepoint Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.4% in the fourth quarter. Shorepoint Capital Partners LLC now owns 20,898 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,803,000 after buying an additional 10,868 shares during the period. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.