Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 1.1% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks' shares increased by 1.1% during mid-day trading, reaching a price of $206.69 after experiencing reduced trading volume of 1,205,073 shares.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on the stock, with 27 buy ratings, 13 hold ratings, and 2 sell ratings, while the average price target is set at $209.42.
• The company's latest earnings report indicated a 15.3% year-over-year revenue growth with an EPS of $0.80, beating expectations and reflecting positive financial performance despite a recent stock price drop of 5.1%.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) shares were up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $210.39 and last traded at $206.69. Approximately 1,205,073 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 5,319,533 shares. The stock had previously closed at $204.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, May 19th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Northland Securities dropped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $177.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $235.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.61.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.7%

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.46, a P/E/G ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 0.97.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total value of $19,866,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,356,888.56. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at $810,047,000. Northern Trust Corp increased 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 valued at $1,427,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,359 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $633,068,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 98.0% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,158,580 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,120,615,000 after acquiring an additional 3,047,625 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.