Robert W. Baird Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at Robert W. Baird from $385.00 to $425.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price suggests a potential upside of 7.76% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $381.56.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of PANW opened at $394.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $128.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $234.15 and a 1 year high of $408.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $357.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $335.01.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,505,142.12. This represents a 9.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Tradewinds LLC. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.7% in the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 4,035 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 30 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.