Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives $204.27 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-three ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $204.27.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PANW. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Morgan Stanley set a $230.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $152.44 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $132.83 and a 52 week high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $100.93 billion, a PE ratio of 85.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50 day moving average is $184.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.26.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 818,544 shares of company stock worth $147,132,028 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,533,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,359 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.