Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 0.8%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares shot up 0.8% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $285.06 and last traded at $284.42. 964,694 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 5,979,175 shares. The stock had previously closed at $282.26.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $315.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.7 %

The company has a market cap of $91.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $320.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $286.10.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,153 shares of company stock valued at $44,107,332 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1,071.4% in the 2nd quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 82 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.