Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 0.3%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price rose 0.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $295.00 and last traded at $294.45. Approximately 875,918 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 5,471,983 shares. The stock had previously closed at $293.49.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on PANW. Loop Capital cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Northland Securities cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $93.31 billion, a PE ratio of 45.12, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $289.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,659,063. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total transaction of $16,082,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,659,063. 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 three months. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. First Pacific Financial grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.