Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Susquehanna raised their price target on the stock from $217.50 to $230.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $208.35 and last traded at $208.28, with a volume of 9057389 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $200.03.

PANW has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.5 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $187.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.68. The company has a market capitalization of $134.65 billion, a PE ratio of 115.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 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.