Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 4.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price shot up 4.3% during trading on Tuesday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $225.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $186.15 and last traded at $184.77. 2,460,327 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 6,106,095 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.11.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on PANW. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $208.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.85.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $195,596,176.16. This trade represents a 13.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 5,882 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 413,246.2% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 53,735 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $18,217,000 after acquiring an additional 53,722 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 30.9% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 975 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 77.1% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,434 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,215,000 after acquiring an additional 5,412 shares during the period. Finally, Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,414,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $189.18 and a 200-day moving average of $178.72. The company has a market cap of $120.42 billion, a PE ratio of 47.79, a PEG ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results 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. The business 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%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.