Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 0.4%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price traded down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $282.80 and last traded at $284.01. 574,981 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 6,071,496 shares. The stock had previously closed at $285.07.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on PANW shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Redburn Atlantic upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 29th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.5 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $320.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $286.10. The company has a market cap of $91.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.21.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John Donovan sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.03, for a total value of $2,310,210.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 33,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,007,160.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,153 shares of company stock worth $44,107,332 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 61.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 55 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the fourth 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.