Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Up 2% – Here’s Why

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 2% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $372.32 and last traded at $371.90. 356,998 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 3,978,822 shares. The stock had previously closed at $364.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on PANW shares. Redburn Atlantic lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.82.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $351.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $326.13. The firm has a market cap of $119.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 351,452 shares of company stock valued at $118,643,279 in the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after buying an additional 1,002,239 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after acquiring an additional 444,100 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.