Palo Alto Networks’ (PANW) Hold Rating Reiterated at Westpark Capital

Westpark Capital restated their hold rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on PANW. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $383.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $260.09 and a 1-year high of $408.53. The company’s fifty day moving average is $364.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $339.89.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are going to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after buying an additional 114,742 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.