Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 0.6% – Should You Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares rose 0.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $186.08 and last traded at $184.58. Approximately 765,851 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 5,892,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. StockNews.com lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BTIG Research cut Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $127.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.28.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in 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.