Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANWFree Report) had its price objective decreased by Citigroup from $216.00 to $205.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $210.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.77.

Read Our Latest Analysis on PANW

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $177.11 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $189.99 and a 200 day moving average of $178.51. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $130.04 and a 52 week high of $207.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.12, a PEG ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANWGet Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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