Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 0.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price traded up 0.7% during trading on Wednesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $305.00 to $330.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $280.88 and last traded at $276.89. 816,036 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 5,586,550 shares. The stock had previously closed at $275.02.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on PANW. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $751,276,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,430,299 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $804,199,000 after buying an additional 86,995 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.8% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,376,601 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $673,731,000 after acquiring an additional 92,760 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,136,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $924,905,000 after acquiring an additional 30,013 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.4 %

The company has a market cap of $90.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $290.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.