Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $228.00

Key Points

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Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Scotiabank from $225.00 to $228.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "sector outperform" rating on the network technology company's stock. Scotiabank's price objective points to a potential upside of 29.42% from the company's current price.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on PANW. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley set a $496.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 7th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $212.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $218.12.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.5%

PANW stock opened at $176.17 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $144.15 and a 1-year high of $210.39. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $191.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.35. The stock has a market cap of $117.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business's revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $543,199,564.80. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.58, for a total transaction of $20,722,402.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 206,718 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,468,674.44. This represents a 36.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock valued at $126,423,337. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $13,100,311,000 after buying an additional 1,240,830 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,093,262,000 after acquiring an additional 169,055 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 41.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,235,406 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,234,650,000 after purchasing an additional 2,134,735 shares in the last quarter. 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.

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