Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $225.00 target price on the network technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 14.24% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on PANW. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW traded up $3.01 on Monday, reaching $196.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,692,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,767,706. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $207.24. The company has a market cap of $129.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.69.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.