Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $410.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its target price upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $390.00 to $410.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. DA Davidson began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, June 21st. They issued a buy rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Macquarie raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $363.49.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $349.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $329.49 and a 200 day moving average of $311.45. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $224.64 and a 52 week 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.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 last year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate 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, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total value of $10,559,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,259,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $369,443,596.77. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.21, for a total transaction of $240,168.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,997,573.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,259,567 shares in the company, valued at $369,443,596.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 366,372 shares of company stock valued at $118,440,693. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $726,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 920 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cascade Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,110 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,527 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in 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.