Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $172.50 to $177.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $188.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $210.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $227.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.01.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $202.50 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $205.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $191.18 and a 200-day moving average of $174.73. The company has a market capitalization of $66.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.25, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,231,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 571,172 shares of company stock worth $107,074,352. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at $24,414,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $67,232,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.