Scotiabank Has Lowered Expectations for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price dropped by Scotiabank from $400.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 9.14% from the stock’s previous close.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Two 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.46.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW opened at $183.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s fifty day moving average is $191.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.76. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $130.04 and a 1 year high of $207.24.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 61.9% in the 4th quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 8,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,622,000 after buying an additional 3,409 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,942,000. Modus Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 100.5% in the fourth quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 37,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,790,000 after acquiring an additional 18,703 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 128.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,751 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,320,000 after purchasing an additional 7,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 256.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 648 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.