Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Rating Lowered by HSBC

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) was downgraded by HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $291.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $304.00. HSBC’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 24.09% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on PANW. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $370.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $383.36 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $364.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $339.63. Palo Alto Networks has a 1 year low of $260.09 and a 1 year high of $408.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is going to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly minted shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at $536,000. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the first quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 39.4% during the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 54,870 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $15,590,000 after purchasing an additional 15,519 shares during the last quarter. Ceeto Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $568,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 19,100 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.