Evercore ISI Lowers Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $230.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target decreased by analysts at Evercore ISI from $455.00 to $230.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price indicates a potential upside of 26.40% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $207.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $207.50 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.46.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $181.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $119.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $191.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.57. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $207.24.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings 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 worth $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares in 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 buying an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.