Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $390.00 at Morgan Stanley

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target lifted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $360.00 to $390.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 8.41% from the company’s current price.

PANW has been the subject of several other reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $337.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $363.49.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $359.75 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $224.64 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $328.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $311.18. The stock has a market cap of $116.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.29, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 31.42% and a return on equity of 32.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total value of $10,559,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,259,567 shares in the company, valued at $369,443,596.77. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total transaction of $10,559,160.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,259,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,443,596.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 366,372 shares of company stock worth $118,440,693 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.