Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Increased to $376.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target raised by The Goldman Sachs Group from $330.00 to $376.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on PANW. DA Davidson upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Argus upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $363.49.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $349.48 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $224.64 and a 12 month high of $380.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.80, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $329.49 and a 200-day moving average of $311.45.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at $6,452,097.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total value of $341,440.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,175,564.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total value of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 366,372 shares of company stock worth $118,440,693. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 112,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $33,038,000 after acquiring an additional 26,767 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,291,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 67.4% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 231 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,762 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $814,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.