Jefferies Financial Group Issues Positive Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price upped by Jefferies Financial Group from $400.00 to $450.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $401.78.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $397.41 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $260.09 and a fifty-two week high of $408.53. The firm has a market cap of $129.40 billion, a PE ratio of 54.82, a P/E/G ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. The business’s fifty day moving average is $363.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $338.82.

Palo Alto Networks shares are scheduled to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $54,854,924.82. This trade represents a 27.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This represents a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 64.4% in the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,530 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 991 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $536,000. InterOcean Capital Group LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.1% in the first quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 1,425 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Natixis grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 82.3% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 31,747 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $9,020,000 after buying an additional 14,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 126.6% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 9,489 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,697,000 after buying an additional 5,302 shares during the last quarter. 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.