Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 1.1%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price traded up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $326.80 and last traded at $323.87. 1,075,341 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 4,868,445 shares. The stock had previously closed at $320.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $385.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, June 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.17.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $105.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $303.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $306.50.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.04, for a total value of $16,082,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,075 shares in the company, valued at $46,659,063. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $373,434,232.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,182 shares of company stock worth $74,850,597. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.