Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Raised to $425.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price objective upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $376.00 to $425.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on PANW. KeyCorp increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market outperform rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $371.50.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

PANW stock opened at $369.40 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $233.81 and a 1 year high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $120.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $339.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $318.54.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 269,866 shares of company stock worth $88,620,447 in the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 12.9% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 280 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth $405,000. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 834 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, CRA Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.7% in the third quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 3,487 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,192,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.