Robert W. Baird Raises Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $425.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target hoisted by Robert W. Baird from $385.00 to $425.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 16th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $381.56.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded down $7.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $387.00. 2,204,087 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,849,976. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $234.15 and a 52-week high of $408.53. The stock has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $359.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $336.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,609,486,000 after buying an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,737 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $22,127,000 after purchasing an additional 5,133 shares during the last quarter. Executive Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth approximately $3,468,000. Geller Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $238,000. Finally, SGL Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,794,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.