Rosenblatt Securities Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by equities researchers at Rosenblatt Securities in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $235.00 price target on the network technology company's stock. Rosenblatt Securities' price objective would suggest a potential upside of 20.95% from the stock's current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on PANW. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday. Finally, HSBC raised Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.46.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $194.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $128.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.02. The stock's 50-day moving average is $177.67 and its 200-day moving average is $185.26. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at $48,629,704.62. This trade represents a 27.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 227,414 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $39,281,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 317,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,854,038.83. The trade was a 41.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 568,962 shares of company stock worth $96,933,690. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 11,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.

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