Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading 1.4% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price shot up 1.4% during trading on Tuesday after Susquehanna raised their price target on the stock from $217.50 to $230.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $205.96 and last traded at $202.89. 2,687,927 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 6,231,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $200.03.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $268,851,000 after purchasing an additional 129,371 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth $253,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 222.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,949 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 5.5% during the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,200 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,435,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 4.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.29.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 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.